BellaOnline Forums Career Business Owners Issues with maintaining image? Is it too trivial?

Hi everyone!

Anyway, I�ve got a bit of an image issue, and I was wondering what you girls all thought. I�ve been thinking of using a phone service for a little agency I have here (we�re too small to need a full-time receptionist), but some of my customers have told me they like our �personal� style, where they call me at a local number (and apparently they hear my kids in the background) like they�re calling a mom-and-pop butcher shop. For you guys who�ve switched, does switching to an 800 number with an auto-answering feel more mechanical to you?

I wouldn�t kill myself over it. Most likely those customers are in the minority. In my experience, only the most rabid clients make personal comments and suggestions, and they�d stay with you even if you did change your style. And if you think about it, 800 numbers give you more credibility with total strangers than with your regulars, and you want more customers as opposed to pandering the few you might have now. But it�s a moot point, since some of the phone services like Gotvmail provide the option to get an 800 number or retain your local style one so you can do whatever you feel.

I run an online retail web store where I frequently customize items for customers, hence they will call me, plus I run a design and concierge business that involves clients of all levels calling me, both regular small business owners and some uppercrust executive types.

I have a regular business phone and fax, considered an 800 number but said, "Nah" because people need to accept my life and myself as I am ~ complete with my 5 birds talking and singing in the background and my iguana occasionally leaping from one side of her habitat to the other. They are my "kids".

If a client considers me unprofessional because I live in the real world and work from home, oh well.

It's my manner that lends the professionalism, not my surroundings. You do what you are comfortable with and what fits into the budget. I never personally feel comfortable with a mechanized phone system, but that's just me.

You go with your instinct and what feels right.