In the early stages of a business, you are often the CEO, the marketing department, and the janitor all rolled into one. Agility can be an advantage, but it’s sometimes looked down on if you appear too small of an operation when pitching to larger clients and trying to gain trust.
But you don’t need a Fortune 500 budget to look like a market leader – there are a handful of tricks to be a puffafish and appear larger than you really are.
Secure a prestigious physical address
Nothing screams side hustle quite like a residential address or a generic PO Box on an invoice. When working from home, it is tempting to just use your personal address, but this does raise privacy concerns and can subconsciously signal to clients that your operation is temporary or akin to a freelancer.
A virtual office address allows you to rent a mailing address in a prestigious business district, all without the overhead of physical office space. So instead of “Apartment 4B in Sheepwash Lane,” your business is located at “Suite 101” in a known commercial hub. It provides a layer of privacy and gives you a footprint that implies stability. You don’t need to go too over the top, but creating a sense of an entity can go a long way.
Professionalize your digital identity
Your email address is often what’s making the first impression with a potential client. Sending a proposal from a generic @gmail.com or @outlook.com address can show that your business is you, and this can make it difficult to separate your personal life from your professional life. It shows you don’t have an established infrastructure for your company.
Moving to a custom email domain is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to improve your image. It immediately has a more business-like interaction for the customer, where you’re only there to represent the brand. It allows you to create specific aliases too, like billing@ or support@. They route to your main inbox, but they help create separations and it looks organized.
Outsource your front desk
Missed calls are missed opportunities and it’s something that small businesses struggle with. But answering the phone while you are in a meeting or deep in focused work is impossible. It’s a huge cause of counterproductivity. Equally, letting calls go to a standard voicemail box suggests you’re a bit light on staff.
Virtual receptionist services are the exact cost-effective service that can help here. Unlike an answering machine, these services employ real people to answer your calls in your company’s name and take messages. They may even schedule appointments. For the caller, the experience is indistinguishable from calling a large firm with a dedicated front desk team – they wouldn’t know if they’re working in the office building or halfway across the world.
Automate your customer support
As you begin to scale up, keeping track of customer inquiries in a simple email thread becomes a bit of a disaster. Things get lost easily and response times end up suffering as a result. Large companies use help desk software to manage this, and it doesn’t cost much.
Modern ticketing systems are surprisingly affordable. They allow you to organize and tag customer requests, which in turn prioritizes them. Sure, the automation features like “ticket received” confirmations can help, but the perception is great too.
This puffafish strategy isn’t about deception, but simply building solid infrastructure. It helps with security and separation, but its visibility to the client also does a lot of the work for you.
