When you work from home on your own business, are you being as professional as possible? It can be tricky to pull it off, and you face an uphill battle to persuade potential clients that you are as professional as the company with the big office. However, there are a few things you can do, and we’re going to take a closer look at them today.

Dress for work

The first step towards having a better professional image is by living a more professional life. So, start by getting dressed every day – in smart clothes suitable for business. It will give you a spring in your step, and help you feel that you are going to work. It’s a mindset thing as much as anything. But, it also covers you if a potential client wants to swing by for a chat. You don’t want to be answering the door to a customer in your pajamas!

Improve your website

If you run a home business, your website is often your only presence to the outside world. So, make sure that it looks great, works well, and flows like a dream. Get this right at an early stage, and it will make your life a lot easier in the future.

Establish a tone of voice

All successful businesses understand the importance of consistency in branding. So, developing a tone of voice that you infuse across all your platforms is going to help make you appear professional. Make sure that your logo looks the same, too, and bring that consistency to the fore. It helps your customers feel more at ease and gives you the foundation to push your message out there.

Get a business address

One thing that could spoil all your hard work is using your personal address in any correspondence. It might not seem much, but people will look at this and make a judgement call. There are a few things you can do. You could try setting up a PO Box, for a start. Or, you could use a service such as physicaladdress.com, which will give you a professional looking address. There are plenty of these kinds of services around, so take a look and see what you can dig up.

Up your customer service game

One of the biggest problems you will find with a home based business is finding the time to respond to customers. If you are struggling to deal with volume, you could think about hiring a virtual assistant to field calls for you. It will give you the opportunity to spend more time making money – which you can reinvest in your business. You should also ensure that your communications are water tight. Email Autoresponders are great, but you have to remember to follow them up. It can be time-consuming, but happy customers mean more business in the future.

So there you have it – a few ways of sprucing up your home based business. Don’t forget, appearances are so important, whatever industry you serve. And, if a potential customer doesn’t like what they see, they will just find someone else.