Giving small firms an image 'facelift'.

• Author: Adams, Steve
• Position: Private companies

From the time people are young, they are encouraged to look beyond outer appearances and focus on what's underneath. Recall the adages: "beauty is only skin deep," or "never judge a book by its cover."

While those are great sentiments, the fact is perception is reality. And numerous studies have shown that the average person reacts more favorably to people and things that meet their pre-conceived notions of how others should appear--regardless of what's inside.

That same kind of thinking applies to the business world. If it didn't, organizations trying to attract a certain type of clientele wouldn't spend so much on high-end office furnishings. Instead, they'd go with less expensive, utilitarian furniture and decor.

Appearing 'Substantial'

The reality is that it's important to make a good first impression. For a small business, that means giving the appearance of being substantial and able to deliver.

In other words, while a firm may be small, it should appear that it has the resources (employees and financial) to handle its customers' business without straining.

But that can be challenging for some smaller companies, and that's where technology can help. There are a number of tools that can give smaller organizations "big company" cachet.

Consider email addresses. When many consultants start out, for example, they use an email address with the domain@hotmail.com,@gmail.com,@aol.com, etc. That's because they're free, easy and managed on the back end.

Instead of settling for generic email identities, tell customers your company is substantial by purchasing a domain name that ties into the business and route all the firms' email through it. Domain names through some providers cost less than $10 per year, and often also provide an email address (or sometimes several variations of it) for free.

A Phone System Can Help

Nothing says "unprofessional" like a telephone that frequently gets answered by senior executives or goes to an answering machine when the party being sought is not available.

Instead, consider a virtual private branch exchange (PBX) phone service. This is a service that provides all the benefits enjoyed by larger firms--such as a professional greeting, auto-attendant, multiple extensions, voice mail, company directory, call forwarding, etc.--without a big investment in capital equipment.

A virtual PBX is especially helpful to companies that employ workers who are frequently out of the office, or work outside the main office (out...