Professionalism In Business
“As a business lawyer, and a business owner, professionalism is something that is always top of mind for me. It’s also a regular topic of conversation, especially of late as people are navigating the merger of work and home lives.
When I started my legal career, I thought that professionalism was about business suits and stylish shoes; about building relationships with certain, more senior, people; and about being really busy and all consumed by my work.
I look back now and I see that I was somewhat led astray. (And I am so happy that I was wrong! We live and learn!).
With the benefit of years of experience, including many life and business challenges, what professionalism means to me has evolved. And it is embedded in actions and behaviours based on self-awareness and awareness of others, no assumptions about what people want to see.
I find myself often talking to clients about this concept and how they can help develop and grow their businesses in line with their values, and the standards of ‘professionalism’ that they wish to portray in their businesses.
Here are my 5-key focus areas when it comes to professionalism:
1. Respect. Without doubt, this is the first point on my list. Treating others with respect, always, is key to being a professional and exhibiting professionalism in your business. Acknowledging that your time is no more or less important than someone else’s time; that your life is no more or less busy or chaotic that someone else’s; and that your business is no more or less significant that someone else’s – are all really important points to recognise to be grounded in business. I have seen this go awry time and time again. When someone appreciates the realities of these points, and acknowledges them, the ability to be true to the concept of professionalism is developed.
2. Emails. A flow on from respect is responding to emails. It really should be a given; however, unfortunately it’s not. If someone has taken the time to email you, you need to respond in a timely manner. What is timely does vary person-to-person; however your rule of thumb really ought to be within a time frame that is reasonable given the nature of the email. What does this mean? It means that if it honestly takes you longer than a week to respond to an email, then you are either disrespecting the other person, or your time management needs some serious work.
3. Voicemail. This is a real bug-bear of mine. In business, we should respect ourselves and our business enough to take the time to set up an appropriate recorded voicemail message (honestly, the default ‘the person you are calling is not available’ is inappropriate in a service-based business environment!). Secondly, checking and responding to voicemail messages is as important as responding to emails. To not take the time to do this gives the perception of a lack of professionalism, and/or lack of time management (or both). We all expect our messages to be responded to – so responding to messages that others leave for us is vital to developing professionalism.
4. Website. Given the role technology plays in our lives, and in business generally, having a professional website is critical to developing professionalism in our business. Often websites are used as a form of verification by potential clients or strategic partners, particularly for service-based businesses. We should take the time to pay attention to our website, regularly, to ensure that it reflects who we are in business and gives the right impression.
5. Documents. This one is overlooked more often than not, which, to be honest, I find surprising. If our documents are not in order, or are prepared poorly and not tailored to our business, then in my experience the immediate impact this has is to send a message of poor quality control; inadequate attention to detail and lack of professionalism; or a failure to understand what is required in our business. Whether it is a quote or preliminary fee estimate; an invoice; business terms and conditions, or our email correspondences more generally, each and every document or piece of correspondence is a reflection on our business and ought to be treated as such.
It is hard to come back from making a poor first impression. My view is that as business owners we ought to take the time to focus on the points above and get these right, and then the relationship with our clients and partners are more likely to be smooth and positive going forward. Why take the risk of making a poor first impression, when we don’t have to? It’s our business after all, and the truth is that our business really is an extension of ourselves.
Are you putting your best, and most professional, foot forward when it comes to your business?”
You might like to read more of our tips in our Building Your Small Business | The Beginners Handbook here.
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