When you go into
business for yourself, image is very important. Your professional image affects
your reputation. Your reputation affects the number of clients you'll be able
to attract. The number and the quality of the clients you attract will affect
your success as a nutrition and fitness professional.
The image you project
on the phone, in your advertising, on your web site, and in your transactions
with clients will directly influence the success of your practice. While your
practice will always retain your personal touch, there are a few general
guidelines and suggestions you can observe to help project a positive and
respectable image to your clients and other business associates.
Be courteous and professional on the phone. Project confidence, sincerity, honesty, and fairness to all
who call. Your answering machine should also project confidence, sincerity,
honesty, and fairness. Pay attention to your voice and make sure it is
controlled and comfortable.
Make a good first impression. Anyone you meet is a potential client. You never know when
you're going to gain another clients. So keep your antenna up. Make sure
everyone you meet is favorably impressed with you. This means you need to make
sure you are personable, helpful, attentive, and concerned about your
prospect's needs or problems. Dress for success. Pay attention to our voice.
Make sure you web site gets a favorable review from several colleagues before
you launch your site.
Strive for excellence. Deliver when you say you will. Deliver more than you
promised. Charge what you said you'd charge. Don't cut corners on quality.
Spell-check everything. Constantly strive to improve your product. Innovate.
Look for new ways to do things better and/or faster. Package your products
professionally. Differentiate yourself with a high-quality product and
unsurpassed service. These are the foundation for the growth of a sterling
reputation.
Set up your stationery. Present a professional image by using professional
stationery. Have your business cards, letterhead, envelopes, etc. designed at
the same time. You can use a logo to help your clients identify with your
quality services. You might consider using special paper printed with your logo
and other information for use in printing your reports, invoices, statements,
etc. Make sure you include contact information on your stationery so your
clients can always contact you when they need to.
Set your working hours. Consider indicating your hours of operation in your
stationery and advertising. Letting people know when you're "open"
makes them far more understanding when they get your answering machine during
your non-business hours. Be available during your working hours or have phone
coverage when you're in session or otherwise unavailable. You may well have to
work more than your posted work hours... there are lots of rules for success,
but none of them work unless you do.
Set up your answering machine or answering service. The message (and voice) your clients and prospects hear
should represent you as professionally. Consider indicating your hours of
operation in your message. Returns calls promptly. Leave a different message to
indicate extended unavailability such as holidays or vacations. Some answering
machines make this convenient by allowing you to store more than one out-going
message.
Set up your advertising. Work with a professional to design a professional
"look and feel" for your advertisements. Advertising need not be
expensive or lavish. Start out with free or low-cost ads and work your way up
as you see them bringing you results.
Set up your professional web presence. If you're running a small nutrition-related business, you
should have a web presence. There's really no good excuse anymore. The
technologies you need (an image editor and the HTML markup language) are
simple. The cost of a hosted site starts at under $15 a month. And consider
this: your competitors are working night and day in an effort to take your
existing customers away. And to make matters even worse, your own customers are
actively surfing the Web and looking for these new services. Setting up a Web
presence is vitally important.
Most people who are
confident enough to have the desire to go into business for themselves already
have a good handle on your image. The next topic - while somewhat more mundane
- is equally important, especially if you've never set up an office for running
a small business before. We're talking about setting up your office for
productivity.
Veerapagupathy,
Chothavilai Beach,
Thengamputhoor,
Kanyakumari.
Call @
+91-04652-221337
+91-8220099080
Email: aveholidayhome@gmail.com
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