There’s no doubt that the experience of visiting a high-end corporate office can be influential when it comes to a customer’s perception of a company. Being greeted by professional reception services and being ushered into executive office suites gives an impression of professionalism, success and luxury. Compare that experience to one many people have had in recent years: meeting a potential contractor at a crowded local coffee shop, trying to discuss private business over a laptop or tablet. It’s not hard to guess which will leave the client more likely to enter a business arrangement.
But with the economy only slowly recovering and many people working in partnerships or as solopreneurs, executive office suites and the like seem out of reach even for some of the most competent workers. If you’re one of these skilled workers, you might have felt the frustration of failing to bring in clients because of an image issue. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to mitigate the problem:
- Get a Professionally Designed Website
If your initial or primary form of contact with prospective customers is going to be over the Internet, you’ll want to have a truly top-notch website. That means buying your own domain name and getting a website developed by a professional web design company. Yes, there are tools that allow you to build semi-acceptable websites on your own these days. But if you were accepting clients in a physical office, would you want it to be a shoddy DIY project? Apply that same logic to your online presence. - Brand Yourself, not Just Your Business
If you’re running a very small business, it’s more important than ever that there be a face of the company. Have professional photos taken, and use them on your website (nothing screams impersonal web business like a site populated entirely by stock photos), and don’t let your freedom from corporate restrictions push you in too sloppy a direction grooming-wise. At the very least, have some neat polo shirts embroidered with your company logo so that you’ll be advertising your business not just at meetings, but as you walk down the street. - Use an Executive Virtual Office Space
Remember those executive office suites discussed above? You actually can have access to fully furnished offices that will convey that sense of professionalism at an affordable price by using an executive virtual office space. What part of the office is digital? Well, a full service executive office space will set you up with a physical address in a prestigious building where you can receive mail and packages, a dedicated phone number that can be forwarded to your cell and allow you to take calls anywhere without giving out a private number, and support for administrative tasks such as scanning or depositing. That can alleviate the privacy and security concerns associated with running a business out of your home. And the best part is, you can use fully furnished offices and conference rooms part-time — on an hourly, daily or weekly basis — meaning you’ll never have to meet a client at a coffee shop again.
Have you ever thought of using executive virtual office space so you don’t have to buy office space? Discuss in the comments.
