You’re the President/ CEO of your company…
Here’s the responses that I get from the Question I posted in several business networking groups forum board recently.
I compiled them all into one so that you can see the different views I received — they all have good points… and I believe it’s something that we could think about when trying to create the appearance of success in order to get to success.
My Question:
Do you call yourself the president/ CEO of your own company? If you do, are you still answering incoming business calls yourself or do you have someone in your office answering calls for your company?
The reason why I asked this is because I’d like to be certain if having someone to answer calls for your company instead of yourself doing it, is important to the business image that you are trying to project everyday or not…
Responses:
“I do call myself the President of my company, but I don’t make a big deal out of it, because it doesn’t really matter to me or my target market. Everyone knows that I am my company, and for all intents and purposes, I am the main (and usually only) contact for the business. My off-site assistant and husband/partner work with my clients, but are never first contact. Plus, 99.9% of my prospect/client contact is made via email. The only prospective clients that call me are the ones that got my name out of the local yellow pages (can’t seem to get rid of the free listing) and I don’t want, and current clients rarely ever call me unless we have set up a call at a predetermined time, so it would be an unnecessary and frivolous expense for me to have my phone answered by anyone else.”
(the below is posted on a blog, she re-post my question on her blog and shared her opinions through that — MUST READ)
“This is a great question. I have quite a strong opinion about the matter, so please bear with me. Personally, I don’t use a fancy title. When I start calling myself President and CEO, it’ll be because my office space will be in a building (other than my apartment building), I’ll have someone other than myself on payroll, and a secretary will be answering my multi-lined phone system. For now, my title is not as important as what I do and the benefits I have to offer, so I don’t put any emphasis on a title. I see many small business owners and solopreneurs who put “President” and/or “CEO” as their title on their business cards, web sites and email signatures. Is it deceiving or pretentious to give themselves that title, even if it’s true? What’s the point? I’m being serious… WHY? It just bugs me… but that’s just me. I feel like asking them a bunch of questions about their corporation, until they cave in and admit they run their company from their basement office. I’m interested to hear what others have to say on the subject. Do you market yourself as President/CEO of your company? What difference does it make when handing your business card? Do you get asked about how big your company is, how many employees you have, etc…? If you don’t use this title, why not? Are you tempted? Does your title really make a difference to others? If so, why? Rima’s working on an article about this topic, so join in the conversation by posting your comments here or on Rima’s site.”
“Your question (CEO answering phones) made me think…because that’s what I do…and intended to do until my business is established when I could hire someone full time. Because all funds are directed toward marketing and design, it leaves little ‘free funds’ available for answering services, which I’ve found to be unusually expensive, as we actually handle most of our work on-line and only have need for occasional calls coming in. However, since you brought the point to my attention, could I ask what you charge and what services you provide in this area? Would this be something that would actually be affordable for…say the independent practitioner who is a one-man show (such as most of the professionals listing on our site are).”
“I call myself President and CEO. Also, I don’t generally answer my own phone – the reason is perception – when we answer the phone ourselves in our companies we may appear “small” to the prospect – when we have someone do it for us – it builds the perception that we are a force to be taken seriously – that we are successful. It is a wise move to create the appearance of success to get to success – my mother used to say “fake it til you make it – and I don’t mean to be unreal – I mean to project a positive self-confident successful image even when you aren’t there yet. People prefer to do business with successful businesses – that’s why this is even more critical when starting out. The internet has really leveled the playing field for start-ups and small businesses – it has helped them to capture a larger piece of the customer’s pie.”
“Good question, have you received any replies? I call myself the president and founder of my organization and is a professional image important to me, Yes! Now do I answer my own phone calls, well you know this answer, yes now I do. Would I consider this to affect my company image maybe and maybe not it all depends on who is on the other line. Some people do not mind having that personal touch of being able to actually connect and speak with the owner of a company directly but then again there are others who will then understand or judge that fact that maybe your organization or company is not as large or profitable as it appears to be if you can’t even afford to have someone else take your calls for you or even if you are not BUSY enough to need someone else to take your calls for you. So again it all depends on who is on the opposite side of the receiver whether answering my own calls could affect my business image or not, but again it raises a good question and gives us something to think about moving forward.”
“It depends! I myself answer all important calls, and act quickly. For some routine calls, my staff will do it.”
“Many times customer feel delighted when someone higher receives the calls. After bug pass should ends there. Customer feel secure (i am talking about corporate customer.”
“I have actually gotten compliments on the fact that my customers speak directly to me. If you call my office, I screen the calls, but I also answer them because I know they are important. I have also seen this backfire with one of my clients. Her business is a Home Inspection company where she has been the President for 16 years. Everyone wants her to answer the calls as well as see her come to the inspections. As soon as she had her assistant answer phone calls, her business slowed down and people were not satisfied with the fact that they couldn’t reach her any longer.
She is 60 now and very tired. She wants her business to pay off and now its time for her to relax, but by being the person that people always talked to, she has now set her business up for failure if she steps back. So…I would say that its great at first to introduce yourself to your clients and let them reach you occasionally that way they know you are still there and you still care about them as a customer, but in the case of my client…after 16 years of always answering the phones…it could hurt your business when you want to take a break. Pros and Cons.”
“I am President/CEO/Owner. My situation is a little different. I do not want to project the image of a larger company. I have a small but thriving business based on personal attention to my client’s needs and this is my “image”. To this end I answer all the calls myself.”
“It really depends on what number you give to clients if it is a direct number then you should take the calls. Thas is why on my cards it just gives the general office number, I take or will return virtual every call. I agree and had a similar problem in the early days I sold myself not the company and everyone wanted to speak to me, it has taken a lot of years to get aways from this.”
My conclusion is…
It depends on how important a successful business image is to a person. Some has been successful in business by running the day to day business operation alone, I mean literally ALONE without virtual assistants or outside help at all.
But those who value their time and want to be more productive, would want to streamline their day-to-day business operation. They hire virtual assistants, virtual receptionists, bookkeepers, designers, etc. Are you like them? If you are not, maybe it’s time to think big. Do whatever it takes to get that big deal by seeking help from professionals who can help you make it happen. Remember this, big businesses and the media will not take you seriously if they get a recorded message when they call your business number. So if you are planning to answer business calls yourself, be there at all times during your business hours. Don’t let your phones go unanswered. If you need assistance in 24/7 receptionists service, even as a back up, call Virtual Receptionists USA at 1 877 492 6813 for information or visit www.virtualreceptionists.biz.