E-mail Professionalism

"What is an e-mail address? How does it affect my business?"

Good questions. Think of the customers of Australian telecommunications giant OneTel. When e-mail addresses such as abcCompany @onetel.com.au became useless within the span of a week, the majority of customers turned to DingoBlue for a new one, such as abcCompany @dingoblue.net.au. A year later, it was DingoBlue's turn to close its doors, leaving those same customers to find a new e-mail address altogether.

A personal or business e-mail address such as bob.brown @businesscabinets.com is like a business card: "This is Bob Brown from Business Cabinets, and we make Cabinets," it says. Getting the right e-mail address is equivalent to printing your name on business cards with your company name and business details. It's well worth the effort.

When signing up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), most new customers accept the name they are offered, even when the name is limited to eight letters. The result? An e-mail address with no correlation to any business or product of the customer's own.

One business cabinet manufacturer, when offered a limited selection of names, ended up with jandlcc @amajorisp.com.au. How did this help the business? It didn't. Not only was the e-mail address disjointed, but also it failed to identify, much less promote, the company. Later, when the ISP went broke, the cabinet manufacturer selected a new e-mail address, changed stationary, replaced business cards, and updated as many of the contacts as could be remembered. It was an expensive exercise.

If the cabinet manufacturer had chosen a domain name of the company's own, time, money, effort and frustration would have been saved.

Think of your domain name as your business name on the Internet. Let's say that "businesscabinets.com" will be the domain name used by our fictional Bob Brown. Bob's Web address would be www. businesscabinets .com. Bob could use a country code with his domain, such as www. businesscabinets .com.au, since he lives in Sydney.

Every person, every section of the company, could have a private e-mail address, even Mum, Dad and the kids. For example: sales @businesscabinets.com, bob @businesscabinets.com (work e-mail), dad @businesscabinets.com and mum @businesscabinets.com (home personal e-mail), and HomeShowOffer @businesscabinets.com. If Bob likes, he can use anything @businesscabinets.com, because he has an unlimited number of e-mail addresses available. Every e-mail address is separate, with its own password that can be set up from within a control panel.

If Bob comes home early, he can still receive his important work-related e-mail. If he travels to Melbourne for the week, he can go to an Internet Cafe and check his own e-mails. He doesn't need someone to check his messages, fax them to him, or phone him with questions.

What does this mean to your business? To start with, every time you give out your e-mail address, you are giving out your business, trade, or product name. You are promoting your website or future website. You will receive all your e-mail, even when the sender misspells the contact name (slaes @businesscabinets.com instead of sales @businesscabinets.com, for instance). Is this more professional? Absolutely.

The myth that a domain name, 25 personal e-mail addresses, and a basic website must cost a business thousands of dollars is just that-a myth. It can be achieved for as little as $200.00 per year.

So what is an e-mail address? Part of a complete and professional image, as basic as wearing washed and ironed shirts. One of the many promotional tools that businesses must use to compete in today's tough environment. And a registered domain is yours for life, as long as you pay the domain registration fees. Think of it as the Internet equivalent of a business name registration.

Although e-mail should never be used as the sole method of dealing with customers-it can never truly replace face-to-face contact-what it can do is help you stay in touch with your clients, or update potential customers, as long as you have their permission.  Besides e-mail, how else could you contact 100 customers simultaneously at 5 p.m. on a Friday about next week's special offer?

You can send your e-mail as personally as you like. Either bob @businesscabinets.com or bob.brown_AT_businesscabinets.com may be used. Communication personally sent from you, addressed to your customer, containing details of your client's company as well as projects he or she might be working on that are related to your business, will be read. How often do you talk to, or contact, EVERY ONE of your customers or prospects?

Used well, e-mail will make you more productive. E-mail messages can include links to web pages, even if it is only the page that comes with your ISP. Hence, every e-mail message helps promote your product or service. Business these days is about promoting your business at every turn, and turning even half-an-opportunity into a sale. This applies to work-at-home businesses such as Avon or Amway as much as it does to major corporations.

E-mail allows you to ask non-urgent questions or send information at a time when it is convenient for you, outside of 8:30 to 5. Have a question? Ask it before the other party has arrived for work, between meetings, or late at night, and take it off your To Do list. How often have you waited on the phone to ask a question like, "What time is Friday's meeting?" Just e-mail it. They will answer when they get the chance.

Business uses for e-mail
 
There are many uses for e-mail, limited only by your imagination. Use it well, and it's like having a phone for every part of your business, only cheaper. Common uses are:

* Sales @yourdomainName for sales questions.
* StaffName @yourdomainname for a particular staff member.
* magazineadname @yourdomainname for your magazine, to measure responses.
* Faq @yourdomainname for Frequently Asked Questions, combined with an "auto responder" that sends a list of questions and answers; you review the questions later to see if any need a follow-up.
* Support @yourdomainName for support or help questions.