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Marketing Idea That's Too Good To Be
True? by James Foreman
What would you think if I told you that in just 24 hours you
can
give your business a most impressive image? What if I said you
can
have offices (real offices) in a couple of states, toll free
phone
and fax numbers, and a highly trained staff? Sound too good to
be
true? I thought so.
One of the biggest obstacles for any entrepreneur is image.
Some say
image is everything. Others think image accounts for 50% of
your
success. It doesn't matter who you speak to, everyone agrees
that
image is a vitally important component of any successful
business.
As a former home business owner, retail business owner, and
now a
successful entrepreneur and financial consultant, I've come to
realize that image is indeed responsible for a very large
percentage
of your success.
The sooner you come to terms with the importance of an
impressive
image, the better. How does this translate to you and your
business?
Let's start with your website. If you don't have one yet, you
need to get one immediately if not sooner! For those of you
with
websites, do you list a P.O Box as your address? Do you use
only a
local telephone number? Is email the only way to contact you?
There
is nothing wrong with not having an office, or even working
your
business `on the side' if your image is in tact.
Unfortunately, the image portrayed by a business that makes
the
mistakes listed above (as I have in the past) is one of
someone who
works out of their home or whose business is only a part time
gig.
What about when you're on a call or away from your desk? Do
you
use an answering machine? If so, I'm sure you are all too
familiar
with the sound of someone hanging up. Voicemail systems are
not that
much better. The fact is, if your caller doesn't get a live
person
by the time they get frustrated by pressing 1 for this, 2 for
that,
Etc. they are going to hang up and call your competitor.
Missed
calls are missed opportunities.
I, too, was missing opportunities. Like you, I am an
enterprising
individual. We Americans are a hearty breed and when faced
with
obstacles we adapt, and try something new. I knew I couldn't
miss
calls when I was on another line, so I hired an answering
service. I
then switched to another when they couldn't even pronounce my
last
name. Because they knew nothing about my business, they
couldn't
answer basic questions. Bottom line is callers would know they
reached an answering service, which once again made me look
small.
For an address I rented a box at Mail Boxes etc (now called
The UPS
Store). The address gave me a little peace of mind knowing
that
someone couldn't just arrive at my home office and see where I
live.
But, they could still see that it wasn't an office if they
were
local. What to do? I dwelled on this forever and finally
realized
that I needed the kind of help that would:
1. Give me a real office to use if needed, or at the very
least be
able to use their address on my website, business cards, and
advertisements. A real office address where mail can be
received,
attended to, and forwarded to me.
2. Someone to answer my calls and sound like my staff. I
didn't
want them to let on that they were an answering service, or
sound
like an answering service – which are almost exclusively
staffed
with minimum wage earners who really couldn't care less if I
received my messages. Better yet, they should be able to do
sales
for me if I couldn't take the call. Too much to ask? How about
place
orders right on my website, call a customer for me, and handle
my
faxes.
Was I asking too much? I didn't think so. I scoured the yellow
pages, spoke to everyone that I knew, and almost gave up
afraid that
what I needed only existed in my head.
As it often happens, when you least expect to find the answer
to
your needs, that's when it hits you. Thomas Edison said,
"Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not
realize how close they were to success when they gave up." I'm
a big
fan of Edison and his wisdom. So I didn't give up. Then at my
10 year
high school reunion I bumped into an old high school buddy
named
Steve. After he bragged to me how well he was doing I told him
my
plight and problems. He looked like he ran a huge company,
said he
did and it was believable (there's that image thing again). I
was
always too honest and told him everything. I told him about
all of
my frustration with answering services, my angst about working
from
home, the insecurity etc. He claimed to have the answer I was
looking for. He said "want to know a secret?" and made sure
no one was listening. He told me he was using this company
that gave
him multiple office addresses, a staff of 6 or 7 people who
learned
everything about his company, who never mispronounced his
company
name and best yet – did sales, took care of orders, provided
customer service, and even handled his mail! I was impressed
to say
the least and understood why he didn't want our fellow former
classmates to hear that his corporation was really just
himself
working out of his spare bedroom. Steve then told me what I
really
needed to hear – he gets all of it for free just by telling
people about the company that he uses. They gave him a free
month
for every person that he referred who signed up for their
services.
Well, that sounded too good to be true but I was intrigued and
I
called them. The rest is history. I now have my own
`secretary' that
is 2000 miles away, have offices in states that I've never set
foot
in, and the world thinks I run a large multi-state
corporation. Talk
about a marketing coup! On top of that I'm now much more
relaxed
and have far more time to do what I need or want to do,
including
growing my business beyond what I could have done on my own.
Not
only do I not have to worry about missing a call while I'm
already on one, I can now take my wife out to dinner and not
have to
worry about business calls interrupting us on my cell phone!
Is this
marketing and image idea too good to be true? I have a secret
for
you…
------------------------------------------------------------ This article is copyright
2004 by James Foreman who is a successful
financial consultant, writer and entrepreneur. His secretary's
name is Debra Moore, and if you visit
http://www.successfuloffice.com
and end up calling them just ask for
Debra she'll be happy to tell you his secret as well as give
you
free service. In his spare time James
counsels businesses all over the United States on
cost-effective
ways to make their businesses more efficient. Thomas Edison's
wisdom can be found at
http://www.thomasedison.com/edquote.htm
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