Building a business from your home seems like a great way to get started as an entrepreneur. It means you don’t have to worry about finding money for office space, so you can focus on investing in the things that will actually grow your business like product development, web design, and marketing.
However, when you are working out of a home office, it can sometimes be difficult to convince potential customers that you are the real deal. This means that you may not be able to make as many sales as you usually would.
Don’t worry though, because there are lots of things you can do to boost the professionalism of your business and ensure that the customers you are trying to attract are confident enough to make a purchase. Let’s take a look at some of them right now:
Get a business phone line
Although most businesses mainly interact with customers online, it is still a good idea to have a phone line available for those people who feel more comfortable doing business that way.
You could use your home phone line, but then you run the risk of having your kids answer the phone or your partner answering abruptly and not giving the whole business spiel to the customers. It’s much better to invest in a second line just for your business. This does not have to be expensive if you use a VoIP phone line, but it will really help to make your company seem more professional.
Invest in a virtual business address
As well as getting a second phone line just for your business, you should seriously think about investing in a virtual business address too. Using a registered office address service enables you to use a prime address as your business contact instead of your home address. addresses can be bought in places like Covent Garden and a Mayfair for a small monthly fee, and as well as making your business seem much more professional than a home address, they will also help you to maintain your privacy too.
Sure, you could just leave your address off your business cards, website, etc., but this does not look professional and many people will be put off buying from you if they don’t see your address, so a virtual office address is definitely worth the money.
Buy a prime domain name
If you have a website for your business, and you absolutely should, then you will need to ensure that you have a decent web address too., Ideally this should be your business name plus .co.uk or .com, but if that is not available, something relating to your business will work too.
Many people, when starting out, aim to save money by using a subdomain like www.business.blogspot.com, but this does not look nearly as professional as having your own domain, and these days, domains are so cheap that you really have no excuse not to.
Get business cards
You might be running a home business and the internet may be the best way to find clients for many people, but having professional business cards printed up is always a good idea because should you get talking to someone who may be interested in your company, it’s a quick way to direct them to your website, and it will help to show that you are a proper professional who is taking your business seriously.
Present yourself well
okay, so you don’t need to spend every morning putting on a full face of makeup or wearing your best suit, but it is always a good idea to present yourself professionally when you are going to be taking conference calls or appearing on social media or otherwise being visible to the people who may end up being your customers, clients or colleagues.
Take great photos
If you are selling products, you need to show them off with photos. Bad photos taken in poor lighting with your kid’s toys in the background are not going to cut it if you want to look professional. So, take some time and invest some money in creating the highest quality photos you can. The average smartphone camera should be sufficient to do this, but if you feel like hiring a photographer would be better, by all means, do that because it’s a great investment.
Boosting the professionalism of your business will enable you to attract your target audience more effectively than you might otherwise be able to when working from home. So, what are you waiting for?
