I was given this advice by someone who is big in the call center business. The irony is that I use a personal email account for outgoing emails myself. I am very stable in business as I have had my business for 12 years and have several people working for me. However, for INCOMING emails I use a company email. The truth is that I don’t like the pop-email inbox. I prefer Google. Google has a great inbox, filters, tags, folders, you name it. The pop email is ugly, slow, and I can’t stand it. So, I forward my email to Gmail. If someone claims that I am not “professional enough”, because I use my personal email, I tell them that they can do business with my competition (they will regret it if they do that).
But, do as I say, not as I do. My business has a very long reputation for delivering results (and sometimes being short tempered). We can sort of get away with not having an outgoing email from out website. We have a professional website though which proves us. But, for the rest of you guys, nobody will want to do business with you using a personal email account.
My business takes payments of $200 on average. That is small. We have many clients, but they are small. There is no risk involved. But, call center business involves HUGE contracts of US$100,000, or millions. You can not trust someone on that scale who is unknown using a personal email. it is not respectable. Nobody will trust you, and you will be seen as an unprofessional guy on the street.
Trust is everything when dealing with strangers doing big deals. If you seem undependable in any way, unprofessional, poorly presented, poorly dressed, if you use poor grammar, or have anything else wrong with you — you could be out the door just like that. Think from the perspective of a high brow client and you will understand.
Be professional — Look professional — Don’t use a personal email address.