More and more business owners are opting out of having an office in the traditional sense. When faced with the vast expenses of running a business, it’s not really that strange, and you’ll be able to save a lot of money by not investing in all that brick and mortar.
There are a few inevitable downsides to not having a physical office, though, and some entrepreneurs try to cough up all the resources they have just so that they can have somewhere to meet their clients.
Luckily, you can enjoy the benefits without having to risk your business. Here is a handful of ways to get the kind of credibility you’re looking for and avoid the pitfalls to virtual businesses in one go.
First: Build a kickass website
While most prospective clients or customers have your website as their first point of interaction with your business, it’s even more important for virtual businesses to keep their websites impeccable. Have a look at https://smallbiztrends.com for some great website-building tips.
You’re not going to have a sleek-looking office in the middle of the city centre to meet up with your clients so that website will be your one and only chance at making a lasting first impression.
Give it a solid makeover, first of all, and consider hiring someone to take care of this for you. There is more to websites that good copy and whitespace, so make sure that you have someone who knows exactly how to dazzle those clients when they visit your site for the very first time. It’s the only way to make them come back for more, after all.
Another point to this is that you should include testimonials. Since having a physical office tends to be a way for business owners to build credibility, you want to find every other way to do the same. Have a chat with your happy customers and ask if you can use one of their testimonials. You can also come up with corporate customer testimonials videos which could create a bigger impact.
Next: Get a virtual mailbox
Luckily, there are so many ways to make it seem as if you have all of your ducks in a row even if you don’t have a physical space to meet up with your clients and employees.
When you get a virtual mailbox, you’re also enjoying the benefits of having a real street address to use for your business purposes; it may not be where your office is, but it will definitely give the impression of it.
Try to find a virtual mailbox that is both reliable and comprehensive such as the services at https://physicaladdress.com so that you have everything taken care of at once. It may not be the exact same as having a physical office - but it will eliminate a lot of the disadvantages of not having one.
Last: Remember your employees
While you may have an address to show your prospective clients and business partners, you still don’t have an actual office where you can meet up with your team every morning.
This is undoubtedly one of the main disadvantages to many business owners as it may be difficult for your employees to work as efficiently together as they would have done otherwise.
There are ways to fix this as well, though, although there is no ultimate solution to it. A great way to build a stronger bond with your team is to have a set day of the week you can meet up - as long as you all live in the same city, that is.
If you have employees that are scattered all over the country or even the world, it’s not that easy to just grab a coffee every Wednesday. Try to initiate a video chat with the different teams once in a while to keep everyone up to date, but make sure to keep the groups rather small.
That way, you’ll be able to enjoy the video chat in a natural way without having it feel like a conference.
When you manage to get past the biggest challenges of not having a traditional office, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of it. The money you save, for example, can be spent on updating your communication tools and ensure that your business is able to collaborate without any hiccups.
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