Businesses have to communicate in a variety of ways, but I've noticed that many of the online businesses (that I assume are run by solo owners) these days provide no address or telephone number for the company.
I am guessing that the business owners of these web sites have full time employment away from home and just figure that since they can't be around to answer the phone, it's better to just not list a number.
I won't deal with businesses that don't allow contact. Do you?
To me, at least, there are few bigger red flags warning you that something could be amiss than to see a business that doesn't welcome contact.
I don't care if there is an email address for getting in touch with the owner - there'd better be. If a business won't expose its location and contact information, even if the owner is not available much of the time, I don't want to be involved with it.
How can you expect customers and vendors to view your business as a professional, legitimate, on-going enterprise if your business location and telephone aren't divulged?
The technology available today is amazing and there are ways to set up a phone and answering system so that your incoming calls can be monitored and sent to a voice mailbox or forwarded to a cell phone. You can also hire an answering service with a live operator to handle calls, even 24 hours a day if you desire.
Of course you can also tape your message to incoming callers and let them know that you will call them back shortly. Your cell phone can be paged or messages forwarded at any time.
There just is no good excuse for leaving your business behind closed doors all day long. I would suggest calling the local telephone company and ask to speak with a customer service rep about the options of service and products available to home based businesses - there should be many.
This is not a must in the beginning of your business, but eventually you will want to install a dedicated phone line just for your business. It can be set up with a different ring tone than your home phone so you will know when a business customer is calling.
You or your spouse (preferably not your young children) can then answer the business phone using the company name. Your caller won't know if you are a one-person show or your company employs hundreds.
Be sure to create a company greeting and message for your phone system to play when you can't answer a call. Change the announcement on a fairly regular basis, like every week or two, so that the recording doesn't sound stale and outdated.
Let the caller know that you value her time and will get back to her by a particular time if she'll leave her calling details.
A dedicated fax and data line will also serve your business needs well, but I would suggest waiting on this purchase until the demand requires it. Most professional businesses have a separate fax number - it is disconcerting to hear that screeching fax tone come through the regular phone line, especially if you're in the middle of a conversation with a client.
You can also receive and answer faxes from your computer with services like eFax. You will receive a fax number when you register for their service and the faxes coming and going can be managed from your desktop.
Whatever systems you put in place to communicate with your customers and suppliers, remember to be professional, courteous, prompt, and protective of their time.
We are trying to build trust in every business relationship and there are few better ways to do that than by communicating openly and promptly at the customer's request.
