The email address you use for business can say a lot about you, who you are, what you do and how seriously you take your business.
If you are selling professional services, your email should reflect your professionalism. Now, I know that not everyone has a website (though I think most businesses should have one), but if you are a professional and have hopes of conducting business via email, for goodness sake fork out the couple of bucks a year to get your own domain name.
Just this week I received several emails from professional service providers with email addresses at gmail, yahoo and bigpond.
Right or wrong, I am immediately cautious of doing business with them. I have to wonder;
- it screams “micro business” which is fine if that is what you are, but not so fine if your email is designed to convince me otherwise.
- are they just “playing” until they decide if it’s worth investing in a domain for themselves vs going back to the 9-5 (could this be another closed-down in 12 months operator?).
- do they just not care about their professional image or are they simply too slack to organise it (if you can’t organise something simple in your own business, how can you assist me?).
- are they dated in their way thinking and conducting business, only taking to online when I insist they actually email me.
A quick flick through our local Yellow Pages directory revealed several accountants, solicitors and medical professionals using free email accounts…. and even a graphic designer. I think it is a bad decision on so many fronts, but especially for brand image.
What do you think? Am I being unreasonable to expect professionals to have professional email addresses? Does it matter if you are accountant597@hotmail or are you turning off prospects and potential business?
Article by Christie Lewis
Christie is Practice Manager at Alan Lewis Accountants . Besides accounting, her passion is for all things small business (and blogging, of course). You can contact Christie directly at christie@lewistaxation.com.au.
Christie has written 799 awesome articles for us at Alan Lewis Accountants – BLOG
Twitter: @christielewis
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Thanks for this Its really helpful for newbies.
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