Email address What image does your email convey? If your email address is studmuffin@yahoo.com or hottie@hotmail.com , you might take a step back and ask yourself, what image does this convey? If you’re after a professional image for your service business, and you have an email address that doesn’t synch up with this image, you might want to consider upgrading it.

Domain name These days, with costs of taking your business online dropping precipitously, your business really should have its own domain name. I’m not knocking AOL or Yahoo. But if you want to project image of an established business that operates in a professional manner, having your own domain name is a giant leap. For more information about availability of certain domain names, visit InterNIC at www.internic.com .

Email fonts and colors I’ve received some very professional looking emails. I’ve also received some emails that were laughably amateur. Increasingly these days, buyers and sellers make initial contact through email, and casual fonts or background colors that bury body text penalize you right from start. Consider your email address and template as “wrappers” for your business and treat them accordingly.

Voicemail greeting Talk about a moment of truth for your business. The vast majority of business calls (including calls from your prospects) reach voicemail, thus underscoring need for a professional, well-crafted greeting. Don’t have your daughter recite her new poem or feature a rap version of “Old Lang Syne”. Keep it simple…and professional.

Punctuality At root of being on time is respect; respect for someone else’s time. So, be on time for all appointments. If you do run late, call and let someone know. If you’re running a meeting, end on time or announce that meeting may go longer and give anyone an opportunity to bow out.

If you think any of these packaging elements aren’t worth investing in, then you’ve missed my point. Each one of these is a defining contact point between your service business and your market, and forms an important element of your packaging. Pay attention to your packaging; your buyer will.

7.Not writing for target audience. Although core is same, plan should be written for perspective of banks, equity investors, and others. Go as far as you can to tailor each plan to audience’s specific interests to show you’ve done your homework and know to whom you are talking.

8.Starting with a boring, unenthusiastic executive summary. This is first section to be read, and if it isn’t exciting rest may never be seen. Make it fun and be enthusiastic. It should stand alone and generate interest for more. It deserves all thought you would put into a professionally done promotional piece for your customers.

9.Poor presentation. If you have typos and grammatical errors in your business plan, reader will assume work you do in your business is sloppy too.

10.Saying too much. Keep entire plan to a maximum of 30 pages, with an executive summary of 3 pages or less. If investors are interested, they will ask for any other information they need. Amateurs talk in business plan about unimportant details because they don’t know what they should say and what they shouldn’t. Hire a professional editor to reduce page count and help you emphasize your strengths.