First impressions are everything – right? They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Well, the same goes for email too. Just how you show up in person is important, the same goes for email. Your virtual presence is critical, especially with this day and age of technology moving all around us. Here are three steps to make sure your virtual presence is just as professional as your in-person presence.
- Personalize your email address. If you are doing legitimate business, your email address should match your domain name – period. Refrain from using a generic gmail, outlook or yahoo email address as your main business email. Having a personalized email shows that you are serious about your business and that you want to be taken seriously in the marketplace. Without a personal email address, you could be denying business opportunities from individuals and large companies. Do you see large companies using a gmail or outlook address as their main address?
- Turn on your out-of-office messaging. If you are with clients most of the day and can only check email in the morning or evening, activate an out-of-office message that automatically bounces back when an email is sent to your inbox. Craft a message that states when you will be following up and responding to email. This is a proactive way to let people know when they can expect a response from you. The same goes for vacation or if you are ill or traveling. A quick message goes a long way to providing excellent customer service and most importantly, it relieves the extra pressure from you to have to respond to messages late at night.
- Use an email signature. Identify yourself on your email. You are in business for people to find you – right? Be sure to have your email signature on new and reply email responses. Sometimes, you can choose in the settings just to have your email signature on new emails, but if you need to reply and someone new is added to the conversation, they won’t have your contact information. So, it’s a good idea to have your signature on both responses to avoid people from digging through endless messages to find your contact information.
Being serious about your online presence is just as important as your social media presence and in-person presence. Now, I’m not saying this is a showstopper, but I am saying that you could be blocking opportunities from coming your way. If you were neck-and-neck with another company for a deal and it came down to professionalism and appearance, don’t let your email address stand in your way of getting that deal. If you aren’t making strides to invest in the start-up costs of running a legitimate, tax-paying business, then why should others invest in your products or services? You can’t expect others to do for you what you are not willing to do for your own business. I’m just saying.
Learn how Moore Planning and Consulting can help you manage your emails today.