Business e-mails - quality and professionalism

The Internet is a good source of advice regarding e-mails, do's and don'ts. Using e-mail properly is really just a case of professional care and - dare I say it? - good manners. One of the best sites I have come across is Judith's, she covers all aspects of e-mails. Her site is really worth visiting. I naturally asked if I could use some of her material for this blog (linking to her site) ans she replied within hours, despite the time difference between our countries.
Now, that is quality in action!

To quote:
"When it comes to your business e-mail communications, you need to make an impression that can lend to the determination that you are a credible professional enterprise and someone that will be easy and a pleasureto do business with. You have only one chance to make that first impression which will be invaluable to building trust and confidence."

and
"Sending non-business related e-mails, jokes, forwards or chain letters on company time to friends or coworkers reflects on your lack of professionalism."

Amongst other important things Judith covers

• The proper use of the subject field
• Using a previous e-mail to cover a new topic and not deleting the old (unrelated) subject
• Typing in all small or upper case letters
• Using a cryptic/non-specific title in the subject field - likely to mislead the recipient and/or be classified as spam
• Level of formality "One should communicate as if your e-mail is on your company letterhead at all times. This is your business's image you are branding!"

Really a must read for all of us micros and SMEs as it is sound, commercial sense.

Your business card

It is well known that we only have one chance to give a good impression, and visual impact plays a huge part of this immediate judgment.

Most of us small firms are no longer ‘start-ups’ and the focus of our business may well have changed since we first launched our businesses. So take a critical look at your business card – it may need to be updated. It is important to present a clear and professional layout that is consistent with your business. Does it give a relevant impression of your business, tell the recipient just who you are and what you do?

Because a business card is one of the most important and cost-effective marketing tools a business can have. A powerful and well-designed business card can effectively promote your business.

Many of us are so close to our businesses that we don’t see the most obvious mistakes. Try and look at your business card from the customer’s viewpoint – Is what your business does absolutely clear to the non-specialist? If you do carry out very specific work – consider having 2 cards: one for gatherings of people in the trade as it were, and one for general use.

The basics

Traditionally, business cards are created on a 55 x 85 rectangle. Anything larger than this won’t fit in most business card holders or the average filing system.

The quality of paper your business card is printed on will have an immediate (usually subconscious) impact on your potential customer. If the paper is thick, heavy and sturdy, it creates an impression of your company as being reliable and strong. A poor quality card implies a business that will have poor quality products and services.

Design

Have a look through your collection of cards and select those that leave an impact and then try to define why these particular cards are memorable - information, logo, and/or picture? Simplicity of lay-out? Use of both sides of the card? Colours?

Many business cards leave no impression on the recipient, try to create an impact, but above all, make sure the card has the relevant information: Your name and contact details, your homepage address and other information. Even the best designed, eye-catching card is useless if the recipient can’t get in contact with you or does not know what services your firm offer.

The important thing is to make sure that your business card shows that you, and your work, are professional and of a high quality.

Quality – your firm’s image

I’ll start the series of blogs with the quality impression your firm gives to your customers and potential customers. It is well known that we only have one chance to give a good impression and visual impact plays a huge part of this immediate judgment.

Most of us are no longer ‘start-ups’, we are now established survivors, and the focus of our business may well have changed since we first launched our businesses.

We have had several blog entries (by Abelone Glahn, Charlotte Hammer and Susanne Lassen to mention just a few ) on the topic of business cards, virtual and otherwise, electronic signatures, homepages etc. (refer blog entries www.mikronet.dk)

It is not necessary to spend a great deal of money on the ‘public’ part of your company – your homepage, business card, email signature, letterhead and invoice layout, linked-in and facebook presentations, but it is important to present a clear and professional layout that is consistent with your business.

So have a good and critical look at your business card – does it give a relevant impression of your business, tell the recipient just who you are and what you do? And is the print clear and of a font size that is easy to read?

Many of us are so close to our businesses that we don't see the most obvious mistakes. Try and look at your business card from the customer’s viewpoint – maybe get some colleagues or ‘friendly competitors’ to give you a critical evaluation.

Your web site is often the first contact your customers have with your firm, so have a good clear home page that tells what your core services are. And make the look of the site reflect what your business does – a designer’s or artist’s homepage will be very different from mine, which tends to be more factual.

And, as mentioned in a previous blog – keep your site focused. Mine are not at present, I need to separate my business intelligence from translation activities and Business and Technical English courses.

And of course – dress in a professional manner when meeting customers. Not always as easy as it sounds, but it can be learned and it is important.

Once these important aspects are dealt with and you know that your business is presenting a professional and relevant public face to the world we can start on the internal quality processes. It could be argued that these should be in order first, but reality means that to survive and grow, we have to attract the customers and then keep them by dint of good work.

Quality: Total involvement

Quality must be integrated into every phase of the business to be totally effective. I can recommend the article: Quality from scratch: a model for small business* which is well written and offers sound advice.

The best time to start a quality programme is during the initial planning for the business - integrating quality into an exisiting company culture is more difficult, but no less critical. Micro-enterprises are in a good position to change culture though, as they can take quick action and communication channels are generally short (1-3 people). And as owners of micro-enterprises we have aquired decision making skills!

The article also provides a nice set of references: the Entrepreneur's Quality Library, and an useful list of Quality Involvement Models. These will no doubt be very useful tools in the formulation of an easy and practical set of criteria for attaining the Quality Charted visualised for our region.

"A truly integrated quality system is based on three
principles: customer focus, process improvement and total
involvement."

*Quality Progress, July 2004:27-35

Walk the Talk

Walk the talk has become a cliche because it strikes a chord - practising what you preach (another cliche!) makes sense, but doing is not always as simple as saying...

To quote Henry Ford "Whether you think you can, or that you can't, you are usually right". So it's really a matter of wanting to do it right.

Quality and professionalism begins at home. If we are to be eligible to join the cluster of quality approved businesses, we have to make sure that we show by example that we operate with integrity.

So let's take each step of the business' home or office-based activities and see what we can do to ensure that our clients percieve us as professionals.

The Office part 1

I blogged on this topic on Mikronet in 2006. There will be very many opinions on the topic so we'll stick to those that apply generally.

The overall look should be professional. The style should reflect your business. e.g. if your field is advertising, the office could display examples of your work. My work involves Business Intelligence, translation and language teaching, so the office is small and functional. I do have a meeting room facility - our garden room is used for the occasional meeting, but I generally come to the client's premises for meetings.

Working in a cluttered environment does not suit me. Keeping tidy when working in a small space is not always easy, so a routine has eveolved over the years. I have a series of boxes where I keep stuff that is on-going, or projects that have been tendered for and awaiting results. Anything to do with accounts is filed immediately in a ring-binder. Just stuck in as they are dealt with, and then sorted out and entered in the accounts once a month - but we'll cover that when we get to that section.

I do have 'heaps' - I think every single Micro or SME will have those, as we are so busy dealing with everything that they are inevitable, but at least I know what is in the heap and know that I can lay my hands on any paperwork relating to any ongoing project. The paperwork has a corresponding set of files on the pc which obviously is much more comprehensive than the paperwork.

ISO Sensible?

I was talking about the 'quality project' at a social gathering recently (not to bore - I was asked to explain!) and after I had described what I actually wanted to accomplish, one of the group, who is an engineer and daily works to the standards required by ISOs, DINs etc. said "You are describing an 'ISO Sensible' - now get a move on and define exactly what you consider to be the benefits, drawbacks and set out a clear methodology."

Very sound advice. And I'll work on the definitions, which will no doubt be sharpened and made more precise as the methodology is tried and tested.

So the next sequence of blogs will cover quality and profesionalism beginning at home.

When that is sorted, we'll tackle the next section - our clients/customers. As the old saying goes - you only have once chance to make a first impression.

Then - quality professional work and interaction with collegues and competitors.

And - next - how to collaborate trans-disciplinary (across skills and professional training) - how a cluster f SMEs and micro-enterprises, by collaborating, can tackle bigger projects while still maintaining their independence and ability to make decisions.

No doubt there will be other sections to deal with (after all I'm still at the defining stage) but I hope that once the project is better known there'll be input readers of the blog and Twitter feeds.