Your small business could be losing money simply because
it is a small business.
Many will refuse to do business with smaller
companies because they fear that smaller businesses
don’t have the resources to live up to their commitments
or will not be around for very long.
It is vital that you strive to make your small
business look bigger than it actually is.
It’s about the bottom line.
There are steps you can take to make your
business look bigger that are very inexpensive.
These are the top 10 things you can do to make your
small business look bigger.
|
|
1.
INCORPORATE:
Larger companies are incorporated, so if you want to
look like a larger company you should incorporate.
Take your business from sole proprietor to
incorporation.
When people see the “Inc.” at the end of your
business name it removes the idea of a business
operating in someone’s basement with limited resources.
Your customers and business partners want to know
that they’re interacting with an established business
that will be around for some time.
|
|
2. USE
VIRTUAL RECEPTIONIST:
A virtual receptionist is a service you subscribe to
whereby you pay a monthly fee to have a receptionist
answer the phone professionally, screen your calls and
notify you via email, text or voicemail.
A virtual receptionist can also make your company
look big by enabling callers to navigate to a specific
department (such as sales, marketing, customer service,
etc.) within your organization by offering the caller
prompts to select to go directly to a specific
department.
Big companies can afford to hire a staff of receptionist
to answer their phones.
This service is now available to smaller
businesses virtually.
It is inexpensive and you can afford it.
|
|
3. CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS:
Larger businesses have addresses that is either a
physical address in a commercial part of town or a
P.O. Box address.
If you use your home address as your small
business address it makes it easier for someone to
determine that your entity is a small business.
Change your address to a P.O. Box address or
lease a shared office space that is located in the
commercial part of town.
These are very inexpensive options that will give
your small business the look of a big business.
|
|
4. IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE:
The first impression about your business will be made
from your website.
Most of your customers interactions will come
through your website.
Create a professional looking website.
Take a look at some of the websites of larger
companies and see how yours stack up.
If you don’t have the skillset to develop a
professional looking website on your own it is ok to
hire a webmaster to do it for you.
You can hire a webmaster without breaking the
bank. These
services are very inexpensive.
Ask others (customers, friends, etc.) to look at
your website and give you feedback.
Take their feedback and use it to improve your
website.
|
|
5.
BRAND THE BUSINESS:
Big businesses have the resources to run tv commercials,
radio and magazine ads, etc. to brand their business.
They build credibility with consumers by
constantly putting their brand before the public.
Even though you’re a small business and don’t
have the resources of larger companies you should still
focus on branding your business.
There are inexpensive ways to go about branding
your small business.
You brand your business inexpensively by using
social media, the Internet, Word-of-Mouth advertising,
Guerrilla marketing, PR, etc.
|
|
6. USE PROPER DOMAIN NAME:
Your domain name says a lot about your business.
A domain name looks like this for Dell…www.dell.com.
Imagine if their domain name looked like this…www.de-l-l.com.
A domain name that does not closely reflect the
name of the business is indicative of a smaller business
that does not have the resources to obtain proper domain
name.
|
|
7. USE PROPER EMAIL ADDRESS:
Your email address should reflect your domain name.
If your domain name is…www.dell.com,
then your email address should be…sandra@dell.com,
or
customerservice@dell.com,
etc. If
your email address looks like this…sandra@gmail.com,
and your domain name is….www.dell.com,
you can see the disconnect immediately.
How can I trust that you work for Dell if your
email address says “gmail.com”.
This is indicative of a smaller company that does
not have the knowledge or resources to recognize and
make the correction.
|
|
8. TEAM UP:
Find opportunities to team up with larger companies.
Seek
subcontracting opportunities with
larger companies.
Use this relationship to promote your small
business.
|
|
9. SPONSOR EVENTS:
Sponsor events that have lots of media attention.
This will bring a lot of attention to your
business.
It will
show that your business is capable of looking beyond it
self and helping others, which is indicative of larger
businesses.
Use these resources to find events to sponsor:
-
SponsorMyEvent -
Sponsor Boat
|
|
10.
GET PRESS:
Want to make your small business look big, get as much
media attention as possible.
One of the ways you can do this is by offering
yourself as an expert on a specific topic (whatever the
nature of your business is) and make your self available
to the media on demand to answer questions and provide
information.
Offer to write featured articles.
|