They show up in how you serve customers. Think of them as
the way you package your business itself.

Here are just a few examples of small potatoes signals.

• Pays business bills with the personal checking account
• Lacks a fax number or uses the same number for home
  telephone and fax
• Doesn’t take credit cards for purchases
• Its Web site has a very long address (after several ///s),
  instead of its own domain name
• Answers the phone without saying the business name first,
  or family members answer business calls in a casual way
• Its card isn’t clear about what the business does, and it
  looks just the same as everyone else’s
• Says “Make the check out to me,” which tells buyers you’re
  fly-by-night or evading taxes. Since serious businesses don’t
  operate that way, you just revealed you aren’t one

Now be honest; you’ve done some, haven’t you? Well, don’t despair.
Even if yours is a very small or new business, you don’t have to
appear to be small potatoes. Display the marks of reassuring
proficiency.

Develop the perception of competence in the public mind—then
back it up with service that’s every bit as good. Because that’s
exactly what customers are hungry for.