Personal Branding Weekly – Have You Zombified Your Personal Brand?

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Boring Work photo from ShutterstockIt’s not even been a month since the season finale of the television show, The Walking Dead, and I’m already missing it. If only that is what I was referring to in this headline, but it’s not. Last week I wrote about the Wacom customer service representative who was robotic and barely human as he cruised through his phone script. Then, I encountered another rep, but this time with Sprint, who was also focused on her script. So much so that she was having her own conversation without any input from me.

She wasn’t barely human. She was barely alive or aware that I was a part of this conversation. In fact, when I asked her if she knew what my actual question was (after three repeated times attempting to gain her attention) she was silent. She didn’t know.

It reminded me of a moment from the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Evelyn, a recent widow played by Judi Dench, is on the phone with a call-center agent trying (and not receiving any assistance) to cancel one of her deceased husband’s subscriptions. Frustrated she says, “I know you’re reading from a script.”

While we can discuss the effectiveness and challenges of call centers, my focus is on the people behind the phones and on both sides of it. After all, every business and every brand is made up of people.

My question to you is – are you guilty of this? Are you barely like a dead person walking through and to the duties and tasks of your day?  

Are you:

  1. No longer excited about going to work?
  2. Feeling you’re no longer able to contribute or advance at your place of business?
  3. Feeling unappreciated and not valued?
  4. Stressed all the time?

While quitting might not be economically feasible, it’s important for you to discern if you’ve already quit in mind and spirit.

As always, let’s discuss your thoughts and feedback below.

This week we shared the following insights to help you manager your personal brand:

Picture of Maria Elena Duron

Maria Elena Duron

Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand.  Maria Duron is 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.

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