Ce qu’une fiche professionnelle doit contenir pour être choisie
On a marketplace, a business profile is not an advertisement. It is a decision file. The visitor reading it is not looking to be won over: they are looking to rule things out. Within seconds, they discard everything that does not tell them enough, and keep the two or three professionals whose profile already answers their questions. Here is what separates the two.
Photos that show your work, not your logo
The first photo decides everything else: it is the one that appears in search results, and it is often the only one a visitor in a hurry will see. A logo on a white background says nothing about your trade. A recent job, a workshop in action, a vehicle ready to leave, a room laid out for service: that is what makes clear in a single image what you do and at what level you do it.
A few simple guidelines:
- shoot in daylight, near a window, without flash — natural light is almost always enough;
- show the finished result rather than the work in progress, unless the work in progress is precisely your selling point;
- vary the shots: one overall view, two or three close-ups, and one shot that gives a sense of scale;
- avoid stock images. A visitor spots them, and concludes that you have nothing to show.
A price, even an approximate one, is better than no price
This is the most common fear: showing a rate would mean giving up room to negotiate. In practice, the opposite happens. A business profile without prices mainly attracts enquiries that go nowhere, and drives away the people who had the budget but not the time to check it.
You are not required to show a firm amount. A range, an hourly rate, a starting price, a call-out fee: each of these forms qualifies the enquiry without committing you. The right move is to give the order of magnitude, then to explain what makes it vary.
Specifications are what make you comparable
Every sector has its decisive criteria, and those are the ones visitors use to filter. Year, mileage, gearbox and fuel for a vehicle. Floor area, number of rooms, floor level and availability for a property. Service area, lead time and type of service for a service. Capacity, features and minimum duration for a rental.
A business profile with these fields left empty appears in no filter. It exists, but nobody finds it: that is the quietest way of not being visible. Take the time to fill them in once, properly — you will not be doing it again.
The description answers the questions no one will ask you
A visitor rarely hesitates over what you do. They hesitate over what is not written down: do you come to them or work only from your workshop? Do you work on Saturdays? How quickly can you handle a breakdown? Do you charge for travel? What happens if they cancel?
Write the answers to those questions. Three short paragraphs are worth more than a page of company presentation. And drop the phrases everyone uses — “reliable”, “attentive”, “careful work”: they set nobody apart, since nobody writes the opposite.
Opening hours and availability do more work than you think
A professional you can reach is a professional who gets chosen. Filling in your hours is not locking yourself in: it saves you calls at 8 pm and requests for a time slot where you are already booked. In activities that lend themselves to it, an up-to-date availability calendar turns an enquiry into a confirmed booking, without a single phone call.
A business profile has to be kept up to date
This is what separates the profiles that work from the ones that sleep. An out-of-date rate, a number that has changed, a photo from four years ago, a service you no longer offer: each of these details costs you an enquiry, and none of them is visible from your side of the screen.
Get into the habit of rereading your business profile once a quarter, as you would reread a standard quote. Ten minutes is enough, and it is probably the best hourly return in your whole sales activity.
In summary
A good business profile does not try to convince everyone. It tries to be chosen by the right clients and ruled out by the others, as early as possible. Real photos, an indication of price, complete characteristics, answers to the real questions, up-to-date availability: five points, an hour's work, and a profile that stops being a business card and becomes a sales tool.
