Communication is crucial for success in any industry or discipline and making it easy for your clients to communicate with you is imperative! Email has become the communication platform so it makes sense to take a look at your habits and style so as to enable a client or prospect to be able to contact you easily and quickly. Create an email signature on your email platform so that every time you reach out or respond to a message, your name, phone number and company name is clearly listed on the bottom of the email. I know this sounds obvious but I can t tell you how many folks send emails to me without any information at the end of the email. By adding the information on every email, it will make the response vehicle readily visible so when the customer wants to contact you by phone, they will not have scroll back to look at a previous email or look up your information. When leaving your phone number on a prospect or clients voice mail, leave it slowly (say it twice) and don't assume that they have it memorized. This will make it easy for them to reach out to you if they have a question or need. Lastly, don t direct the client to your office voice mail only then to instruct them to call you at another number which requires them to write down the additional number and make 2 phone calls. If you are successful in getting them to return your call, don t make them work too hard to reach you! If you regularly read my newsletter you will know that I have mentioned this issue before! Over the last few months I have been on the buying side of many services and am amazed by the lack of business acumen that some of my vendors displayed. What I am referring to, is the lack of email signatures on the bottom of their responses to me. What I found myself having to do was look up their phone numbers every time I wanted to call them. I asked one vendor about the email signature and she told me she did not want "every" client to be able to call her! I also get frustrated when I phone a person and their voice mail redirects me to the "other" number that is a better number to reach them. . .keep it simple! My point is to make it easy. . .really easy. . .for your clients and prospects to reach you! Focus Point 38. Dress like a professional. This focus point applies to the corporate culture. It dictates professional attire. For a man, that means a suit (or sport coat and matching dress slacks), a necktie and shined shoes. For a woman, it means a tasteful dress or appropriate pantsuit, with matching accessories. For everyone, hair must be groomed and styled, and general appearance must indicate taste and success. Plan for warm days by having a personal kit to use, when needed, after lunch. But avoid the common mistake, which both men and women make, of carrying too much "stuff." When men carry too many items in their pockets (pants or jacket), and when women stuff their purses, they give the impression of being disorganized. That's especially true when they waste their time and the client's by rummaging through their clutter. Naturally, the corporate culture and the industry norms you observe can temper these rules. For example, if you work at a company that practices "casual Friday" dress days, you can participate. Also, you might work in the entertainment industry, which marches to a different drum. Our advice is to be aware of your environment and adapt to it. Also, I don't advise women to dress too provocatively. Be sure to avoid plunging necklines and to keep skirts or hemlines stylish but not too short. Make sure your clothes are not too tight and are not torn or disfigured. You would be amazed by what we have observed over the years in terms of stocking tears, ripped trousers, unzipped flies.you get the idea. If you wear a hairpiece, do invest in a high-quality one. Nothing is more distracting than a bad hairpiece. Even TV commercials ridicule men who wear obvious hairpieces. A bad hairpiece is a reason for people not to take you seriously - and that's not the impression you want to create! Now you can follow me on Twitter @leslielgroene:  Find Leslie on LinkedIn:  |
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