How to Make Your New Business Look Professional
You’ve got a great idea, your product is fantastic, your financials are looking good, yet you have no clients. Why? Your logo looks like it was made on Microsoft Paint, your website like it was made by a three-year-old and your products arrive in parcels covered in customs stickers.
Let’s tone that down a bit. Your business probably doesn’t look that bad but making it look a bit more professional can certainly make your potential clients see you in a better light. For a few small investments you can drastically transform how your business looks to your target market, bringing you more money in the long run. Read on for our tips on making your business look professional.
photo TheAndrasBarta Pixabay
Get a Nice Website
A good website can do wonders for your business. No one wants to use a website that looks like it was made in the 90s, never mind one that is as hard to use as the internet during the dotcom bubble. If your clients still have to use a bank transfer to pay for your products, they’re probably not going to buy.
Similarly, if your website is ugly, that is if it looks largely akin to basic text overlaid onto a monocoloured background, it’s probably not going to convince your customers to buy. With gorgeous websites like this from National Geographic now becoming more and more commonplace on the internet, a basic HTML site that looks like it was thrown together in a few hours for a coding camp’s first project just isn’t going to cut it.
Fortunately, there’s help at hand. Services like Upwork offer quick and cheap access to developers capable of making you a stand-out site. Meanwhile, easy to use platforms like WordPress enable you to create a good-looking website with lots of functionality for minimal effort. Marketplaces like Themeforest make your job even easier, giving you access to pre-made templates for decent prices. You can even integrate plugins like Stripe and WooCommerce to make it lots easier for your clients to access and, more importantly, pay for your products. A website may seem like a small item in your overall business but to sell online, you need to look professional if you’re going to pull in your target market.
Use Your Brand on Your Mail
You receive a letter in the post. It has no branding on the outside, nor on the letterhead when you open it. Yet it’s a very important letter regarding your new flat. How would you see this? You wouldn’t exactly view the Estate Agents that sent such an unprofessional letter in much esteem. So why would any of your clients view your correspondence any better?
There is a level of expectation, especially in professional services, that businesses have personalised letterheads. Without it, clients will inherently distrust you. You just don’t look as serious as those with personalised letterheads – after all, anyone and their brother can send a plain letter. Thankfully, there is help at hand since it is now easier and cheaper, as you can find letterhead printing online. There’s no real excuse to not doing this one. Just ensuring that your brand is on your mail makes you look so much more professional and for such a small price, you cannot argue that it’s not worth doing for the potential reward you get from clients.
Look the Part
In the office you might relax a bit and take off the tie, or maybe you go full casual and ditch the formal wear altogether. Whilst this might work for when you’re running your business alone, it doesn’t look good when your clients see it. In a lot of businesses, there is an expectation for you to dress the part. When meeting with clients, it is vital that you look smart.
Firstly, your suit should fit. This sounds rather obvious, but there is an abundance of people out there who picked up the first one on the rack and went with it. Now you don’t need to be going to Savile Row for your newly launched business, but you should at least be looking to get measured up before you buy. For women, there’s a bit more freedom, but there’s a fine line between looking professional and looking like you’re heading to a party. A blouse, jacket and trousers usually work fine, but there are other options.
Second, make sure you know how to match things. It’s surprising how many people have a limited fashion sense. Use the colour wheel to look at how you should be combining colours to look best, but don’t make it unprofessional. If you’ve gone as far as wearing an orange tie and a blue shirt, take a step back. It looks nice, but it’s not suitable for a professional setting and will put people off rather than helping you.
Finally, try accessorising a bit. For women, this could be nice, professional jewellery. Again, make sure it is professional. You shouldn’t be wearing the same earrings to work that you would be to the pub. For men, try getting a nice watch or some professional cufflinks. People generally don’t want to see a professional businessman with a plastic digital watch, get yourself a nice leather or metal one instead.
We hope you find these tips useful. Make sure to check out a few more guides on helping you look professional and helping your business.
Author: Zoe Price
