Professionalism in a Technology World

Day by day, I run into things that I see a lot of pros lack that would make their days multitudes more efficient and give a better vibe to the customer. Here are a couple things.

1. A good solid online presence. – This means a professional headshot (get ready to pay for the good ones) and an updated business profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, etc. You want to be able to be found.
2. Timeliness – With this I mean the following. Solid response times for any way your clients communicate with you. Phone, SMS and Email being primary. 30-60 minutes would be max average in my opinion. I also mean being on time and not letting other things constantly come up. Be precise.
3. Know the Technology you work with  – I’m talking about the day to day and repeating tasks. Your life will be a lot more efficient if you don’t wait until last minute to learn to change that expired password or learn to use your smartphone. Last thing you want is to be with a client and have something throw you off.
4. Care About Security – Security is important. We don’t want our clients data going out into the world unprotected. It’s worth every professional learning at least the basics as they apply to their job. This also means strong passwords that aren’t stored somewhere with easy access to the rest of the world.
5. To Read Headlines – There’s a reason I like to write in bullet points and numbered lists. It makes it easier for people like me to read. I know the feeling of TLDR articles, I skip past them too. Though when it comes to reading headlines, bullet points and lists, this is something that will help in the long run.
6. Know how to use the search function – Lots of sites have them, your browser has one, Microsoft Word has one. Searching will save you time. Whether it be from the start menu for a program or old email, whether it’s google looking for an answer, or whether it’s your internal support site. Search is your friend.
7. Always be open to improvement – I’ve seen a lot of people who just don’t care about improvement or the things going on around them. This is just asking for failure in the long run. Look into every opportunity, you never know what may come of it.
8. Treat [almost] every communication as a potential client – What I mean by this is that pretty much every email, text, call you get, you should consider that they could potentially be a client and could potentially be a money maker for your business. Treat them as such. Of course, I’m not counting the spammers from India. 🙂
9. BE EFFICIENT – Click here.