Xander
Banned
- Reaction score
- 66
- Location
- Niagara region, Ontario
I don't see a thread like this as pointless at all. It's someone asking for business advice on how to better present himself to the public.
Is this ethical?
- Thread starter JosephLeo
- Start date
MrUnknown
New Member
- Reaction score
- 5
Yet another pointless thread that's dragging Technibble even further down the pan.
Unlike your informative and helpful posts. Keep em coming!
norm1320
New Member
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Rural South Dakota
I'm sure it depends on where you live
Around here, it's just common use of the language that a company is a "we" even if it is just one person.
Around here, it's just common use of the language that a company is a "we" even if it is just one person.
Cerberus LLC
New Member
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- 0
- Location
- Ohio
SThompson86
New Member
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Pearl,Mississippi
I advertise as "WE" but once I get someone on the phone and feel comfortable with them, I let them know I am a one man show. I just always make sure I feel like their is a level of trust between me and the customer kinds like a SYN ACK 3 way hand shake, once I feel like we have a 3 way hand shake I will let them know that I am a one man shop.
Rodrick
Member
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Portland, OR
Good advice:
Though you may think that a customer can be fooled by exaggerations on the number of staffers in your company or the breadth of your offerings, the smart ones, the ones you really want, will always learn the truth — whether through intuition or deduction. Embarrassingly, I've been a part of white lies like this in the past, and none of those situations ever resulted in what matters most to a business: meaningful, lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with people who had a real need for the services offered. The better course would have been to be proudly, defiantly truthful about the exact size and breadth of the company.
—Khoi Vinh, Subtraction.com
Any time at all
Via: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch03_Be_Yourself.php
Though you may think that a customer can be fooled by exaggerations on the number of staffers in your company or the breadth of your offerings, the smart ones, the ones you really want, will always learn the truth — whether through intuition or deduction. Embarrassingly, I've been a part of white lies like this in the past, and none of those situations ever resulted in what matters most to a business: meaningful, lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with people who had a real need for the services offered. The better course would have been to be proudly, defiantly truthful about the exact size and breadth of the company.
—Khoi Vinh, Subtraction.com
Any time at all
Via: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch03_Be_Yourself.php
B
BostonGeek1
Guest
as long as you're not saying something that's not true, there's no reason to explicitly knock yourself down. If you're doing a great job and then somehow the client realizes that you're a one man show , they're not going to think 'oh what a liar, he's got a website that looks like he's got a big company, but he's really a one-man show'. Unless you're doing something like promising 24/7 support, and making them buy phoen support contracts or promising to always answer, and then letting them see you answer the phone to service other clients....i don't see a big deal. When you start making promises you can't deliver on, that's when you run into problems.
Rodrick
Member
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Portland, OR
Instead of asking if it's ethical to try and represent yourself as something your not, why don't you emphasize what you bring to the table that large faceless companies cannot? A one man band can provide a much more personal level of customer service, they are always the same person to work when the customer has issues so the customer knows what they are getting from one call to the next, and as the owner and operator of the business you have a much more personal stake in making sure each and every customer is happy than an employee would.
You might be a one-man show when it comes to fixing computers but if your girlfriend is participating in administering your business then technically it is "we". I do have a business license (sole proprietor for now) but my wife talks to customers, calls them, goes to make flyer drops around the city (even though she is not on the books as an employee) etc. so I do say "we". I also have a friend who is willing to jump in and lend a hand when needed.
john
www.ad-techsupport.com
john
www.ad-techsupport.com
K007
Member
- Reaction score
- 0
Now don't get offended, English is not my first language either.
Guys = boys
Gays = homosexuals
I laugh my arse off when I see or hear this kind of blunders...
What a difference a single letter makes in English language...
NeutronTech
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Grayling, Michigan
I have taken a couple classes on advertising and sole proprietorship. Each said to never refer to yourself as "I" in print. Always refer to yourself as "we" on your webpage, flyers, etc. It has nothing to do with honesty, ethics, or integrity. It's simply a buzz word, so to speak, that emphasizes that you are a professional business and take your business seriously. Now, it isn't right to tell a customer that you have others working for you or anything like that. When people read the word "we" they won't even remember reading that when they come into your shop and see only you. Most of the time they won't even realize it's just you anyways. It just won't matter to them for it to even cross their mind. But if you tell them that you have multiple techs and they find out you don't, that will give a negative impression.
L
layoric
Guest
I or We
Hmmmm....
What we do, or I do, oi, confused on starting the sentence now
Whatever... What I do is:
- Have a cool phone menu system to sound bigger.
- Business shirts planned for family members.
- Answer the phone as business name
- Say things like, need to bring system back to the shop
- Say we can, or I will - when appropriate
- Have a website that says we a lot
My wife helps me with the business, as she has vested interest in it (plus I have some health issues). I occasionally enlist another family member to assist in jobs, and plan on getting her more work when I get more busy.
All that said, my business name is "I" Recover Data (dot com), but it can be thought of as just me (one guy), a single tech, or the business itself. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this whole thing is open to interpretation, although I continually try to make the business look larger than it is, in an attempt to get different clients, although it clearly states that it is a home based business.
I'm starting to sound like Sybil...
Hmmmm....
What we do, or I do, oi, confused on starting the sentence now
Whatever... What I do is:
- Have a cool phone menu system to sound bigger.
- Business shirts planned for family members.
- Answer the phone as business name
- Say things like, need to bring system back to the shop
- Say we can, or I will - when appropriate
- Have a website that says we a lot
My wife helps me with the business, as she has vested interest in it (plus I have some health issues). I occasionally enlist another family member to assist in jobs, and plan on getting her more work when I get more busy.
All that said, my business name is "I" Recover Data (dot com), but it can be thought of as just me (one guy), a single tech, or the business itself. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this whole thing is open to interpretation, although I continually try to make the business look larger than it is, in an attempt to get different clients, although it clearly states that it is a home based business.
I'm starting to sound like Sybil...
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