Image certainly impacts other’s perception of your business. When you offer solutions, do your prospects actively listen?

Your company’s style of communicaton can influence how prospects view your products and services, and can enhance or adversely lend to any long term partnership (alliance) possibilities.

Sales Diplomacy

When your sales department is challenged, overwhelmed or put on the spot, are they thoughtful and diplomatic in their interactions? Do they respond in a professional manner, even when clearly outside their comfort zone? How well they communicate directly relates to their close ratios. If they’re talking to a hundred prospects each week and only closing two, is that acceptable? Could be - percentages need to be measured against your Return On Investment (ROI).

Professional Image Impacts Sales

How prospects read your company impacts their perception of your credibility, and ability to deliver solutions. Your sales department needs to know when and how to use diplomacy, when and how to be tactful and they need to understand the concept of credibility.

Your image as a company - to be perceived as professional, should be addressed in your business plan, measured and tweaked frequently.

Great post steve.

I've seen a lot of hosts respond to support requests in peculiar ways. Often large established hosts portray a professional image but act in an unprofessional manner.

What goes around comes around and they are only hurting themselves. Seems you see the true face of a host when you send in a cancellation request.

Cancellation requests are a great measure of just how professional a company was/is, however usually when you're at that stage, something else has triggered it. I'm shocked to read some of the emails that customers bring to us from their old host. So many people cancel an account, but come back weeks/months/years down the road. In the world of business, a bridge is often not burned, you just never know when something may come up.

Sometimes you never find out the reason for the cancellation. Change in a company's IT personnel can trigger moves between providers. The guy you dealt with at ABC company now works with DEF company. The new guy's wife at ABC company works for your competition, so they cancel with you. IT personnel move all the time, especially as they obtain additional certifications.