David Cameron MP must have been cringing as he listened to such an inflammatory interview which has placed the Conservatives right back at the centre of the class row they’ve been trying so hard to avoid.

But, this isn’t an isolated incident – our staff, agents and representatives say things to our customers every day; some of which we would rather they didn’t – but what can you do to protect your company?

• Your team are a reflection of your business – and the first step is for them to understand how important that is
• First impressions are crucial, so you need to ensure ‘front-line’ staff have sufficient training and motivation
• If your employees are driving company cars, or wearing company uniform, your business will be judged by how they act – both good, and bad
• Could you bring standards and procedures into place that reduce the variability of service delivery and clarify expected standards of behaviour?
• Your team are a reflection of you – if you act improperly in front of customers, your team will likely copy
  

As we eluded to in that last point – it’s the business leader that everyone will typically follow.  You can’t blame your employees before you’ve taken a long, hard look in the mirror and asked yourself what message you send about your own business, in terms of your appearance, your attitude, your customer care and all the other aspects of marketing your company.

Logos and straplines conjure up all kinds of images in our minds.  If I mention ‘Mercedes’, your mind will already be thinking about your perceptions of the brand; it’s culture, typical customers, strengths and weaknesses etc.  But, all a brand is is a collection of lines and colours and sometimes letters or words.  Don’t you think it’s strange how much we read into something so simple.

Brands are often seen as something that’s only important to big companies, but, do you not think that people who see your logo make up their minds about your company from the outset?

This follows on from our discussions of first impressions from last week.  For many of us, our website or shop window may have to make the first impression on our behalf.  We may not ever get to the stage of meeting that prospect, because they may be turned off before they make the initial contact.

So can you afford to ignore branding and the messages it sends to your prospects?

• Visibility
  
• Credibility
• Profitability

It’s fair to say that without visibility, you can’t be credible and without credibility, it’s very difficult to be profitable.  But, how do you get the right kind of visibility for your business and ensure you’re remembered for the right reasons?

This week we’ve been focusing on the importance of first impressions – networking can be a great way to meet new people face to face, but you need to be sure you take advantage of it…

You will no doubt have met people at networking events who make some of the following mistakes:

• Invading your personal space
• Shaking hands with their business card
• Only talking about themselves
• Trying to sell to you
• Asking for your business card and then spamming you for the rest of your life

We attended a Referral Institute Conference recently and one of the speakers described this as Invisibility or Irritability Networking.  People who do these things certainly leave an impression, but it isn’t a favourable one.

If you are using networking as a marketing tool, remember most people won’t buy from you when they’ve just met you.  And they’re even less likely to refer you to someone else and put their reputation on the line.  In order to be visible, people have to have contact with you a number of times.  You could keep in touch using some of the following ideas:

• Follow-up the initial contact
• Arrange another meeting / telephone call
• Send them something useful
• Invite them to a relevant event
• Help them in some way

By helping people, you become more visible.  And…what goes around, comes around.  BNI has a principle called Giver’s Gain and it really works!

As this can have such an impact on your sales (and profits), what can you do to ensure your first impression counts?

Showing Off’s Top Tips:

• Dress appropriately for your business
• Check your appearance before you enter a room (teeth, breath, buttons etc.)
• Make eye contact
• Smile
• Give a firm handshake

Unless first impressions of you are spot on, this can massively affect your profitability.  As a result, it’s worth practicing your handshake and asking friends and colleagues for an honest assessment of your appearance – are you creating the right image for your company?

We’ll cover different elements of first impreessions in more detail over the next few days, beginning with top tips for clothing that makes you more money!  Check back tomorrow…

Firstly, speak to a few web design companies and meet with at least two or three.  These are the top things we are looking for when recommending web partners…

1. Someone you can work with and get along with. It’s important you build a great relationship with your web designer, as they should become a ‘partner’ in helping you achieve success on the internet.
2. A fantastic design service. First impressions are very important with a website, so you need a company that employs good designers.
3. Fabulous back-end, technical skills. Websites must be easy to navigate and the technical back-up and security behind websites is often over-looked.  But, it’s vital to a successful website, so ensure your web company has high-level technical skills to ensure your users have a safe, secure and simple route through your site.
4. Outstanding search engine optimisation knowledge. Creating a website and failing to optimise it is like printing 1000 brochures and leaving them in your office – it’s a complete waste of money.  Ensure your web team understand optimisation and ask them for examples of companies they’ve helped and how they changed their position – on Google specifically.
5. An understanding of marketing. A website is one small part of a promotional strategy.  And promotion is one quarter (at best) of the marketing mix – so it’s a very small part of your overall strategy.  Your web designer needs an understanding of where your website fits in your strategy and how it integrates with your other marketing methods.

As a result of these demands, it’s highly unusual to find them all in one individual.  Gone are the days when web designers could set up on their own, in their back bedroom and create fantastic websites.  You now need many more skills.  We therefore look to work with companies with all these skills under one roof – they usually have at least three staff; one of whom specialises in each of the key areas of web design.  (Look at www.ibexinternet.co.uk for an example of the company we choose for all our web design and support.)

I hope this helps you in your choice.  Whatever you do, please don’t use your ‘nephew’, unless he runs a very successful internet company.  If you can’t afford a properly designed website, question whether you need one at all, rather than spending money on something that won’t work.