This week we covered deadly sins, the curse of the expert, pitfalls to your brand in the waiting room and the “do’s and don’ts” of preserving your brand even when you say good-bye.
If you missed it, here they are in one easy place:
- The Parent Dilemma by Jun Loayza
- Job Search Improvements: Customize Personal Branding for Maximum Effect by Phil Rosenberg
- Does Your Resume Scare Recruiters? by Nance Rosen
- How to Know When Your Personal Brand Isn’t Working by Heather Huhman
- 3 Qualities to Drive Your Success by Elinor Stutz
- Avoid the “Curse of the Expert” While Brand Building by Roger Parker
- ‘Breaking Up’ is Hard. ‘Making Up’ can be Worse! by Skip Freeman
- Create Your Personal Brand…Then be It! by Kristen Fischer
- Why I Joined App.net by Jacob Share
- Personal Branding: The Seven Deadly Sins by Oscar Del Santo
- 5 Things I Wish I Knew When I was Younger by Jeff Shuey
- Why I Hate Elevator Pitches by Erik Deckers
- Rules for Protecting Your Brand in the Waiting Room by Michael Spinale
- Beware Helicopter Parents! Kids Aren’t Learning Skills for Success by Beth Kuhel
- Five Aspects of Your Personal Brand You’re Forgetting by Rebecca Rapple
For this coming, week we’re excited about a new syndication partner! The announcement will come soon.
You also have some great posts to review from someone needing help with a personal brand struggle; how you brand can accelerate your career advancement to even taking a look at some of the personal brand lessons we can learn from the Presidential candidates. You don’t want to miss out on any of the upcoming insights!
Your Personal Brand, Personal Word of Mouth and Following-Up
From following up on a sales call, an investor inquire to a job or joint venture interview, how you follow up after these meetings speak volumes about your personal brand.
Done right it builds a relationship. Done wrong you could be seen as a stalker or a pest. To keep professionalism in and the opportunity for emotion out – have a written follow-up plan.
You have two advantages with a written follow-up plan:
One is you’ll stand out
The majority of your competition give up after only a maximum of three attempts.
The question is, how should one persist? A majority of us use the phone as the primary tool. According to Dave Demarchi during his recent talk for a group of the American Marketing Association on Wedge power, he recommends that, “After delivering a pre-approach package or letter, following up with a phone call is an important personal touch”.
Instead of thinking about what you want or need from this contact, ask yourself – how can I create a friendship/relationship with this person? If you approach it that way, you’ll trigger what they’ve told you is important to them and be able to follow-up in a way that is “them” centered versus “you” centered.
Demarchi recommends sending relevant articles from the media to prospects as one method to this end. He says,
“I am always reading the business news and scanning headlines, not just for myself but for my friends…and those people whom I want to be my friends. It is always helpful to have half-dozen articles bookmarked or printed out and ready to drop in the mail to a prospect. I enclose a small note that indicates that I came across this piece and that I thought they might have an interest in it.”
The second is more relationship focused
You’ll be viewed as sincere and genuine. All communication activity is marketing until you get to face-to-face engagement. Be sure to serve and deliver value whenever you engage, regardless of whether a sale, appointment, venture or job is ever secured. Even if this opportunity doesn’t come to fruition you will now have built a relationship that could sustain several more opportunities.
Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm. She helps create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is co-founder and moderator of #brandchat – a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.
