Ask most people what they like about working with small marketing firms, and you'll hear answers such as "their personal approach" or "I'm not just a number to them" or "I get to work with the heavy hitters instead of some trainee just out of school."
Yes, those are some of the things they say when things are going well. But should the perceived service level drop, those same enthusiastic supporters begin to question their decision about working with a small firm.
In particular, things that they used to find charming—such as a live person taking messages instead of a system putting a call through to voice mail—suddenly become indications that maybe they need to consider a somewhat larger, "more professional" firm.
The good news is that these small-agency quirks don't have to be fatal. In fact, many can be fixed by applying simple technology that provides big-business tools while allowing firms to stay true to their small-business core. The following eight cures to the common small-marketing-firm ailments will help ensure that your company doesn't fall into the "too small" trap:
1. Don't have one phone line for all your business communications
Nothing says "too small" like a phone number that returns a busy signal or a phone that rings and rings until the caller finally gives up.
In today's business world, someone placing a call (instead of sending an email) expects the call to be answered or, at the very least, routed to an auto-attendant or voice mailbox. Though a standard private branch exchange (PBX) phone system might be too costly to install and require too much specialized knowledge to maintain, virtual PBX services can provide the same professional "face" without the equipment investment or the maintenance.
Those services automatically route calls to extensions that you set up, and they provide voice-mail services so callers can leave a message. Callers will never get a busy signal and won't be stuck in a ringing loop, and so they will gain confidence that you have the staff to service their business.
2. Don't keep using a portal email account for your business
An email address that reads @gmail.com, @aol.com, @yahoo.com, etc., makes you look like a small-timer with a serious lack of working capital—and perhaps one that doesn't expect to be in business for very long.
Since your firm has a website, most Web hosts allow you to create one or more email accounts with an address of @yourdomain.com. If you don't have your own domain yet, buy one! You can create one for less than $10 per year if you look around a little. Then put up that website so customers can get to know how good you are and new customers can find you.
3. Don't make your customers wait while you switch your phone over to accept a fax
Similarly, don't give your customers an earful of fax screeches when they try to make a call. Either way, your customers start to wonder whether you're big enough to handle their business.
An Internet fax service solves both issues by allowing you to send and receive faxes via your email account or a secure online server. Your customers never know the difference; to them, they're sending to and receiving from a fax machine. But it's much more efficient for both of you.
As a bonus, you're able to send and receive faxes from anywhere you can get an Internet connection, making you far more reachable than you would be if you were relying on an office fax machine.
4. Don't give customers a series of phone numbers to call
Business cards (or email signatures) with too many phone numbers on them can be confusing to customers. Often they're not sure which number to call and when, so sooner or later they decide that the best number to call is your competitor's.