While I’m in Las Vegas for EMC World, I’ll be running some guest posts by personal branding evangelists. Today’s guest post comes from a top commenter on this blog by the name of Luke Harvey-Palmer, all the way from Australia (you have to love the internet). Luke is a personal branding consultant there, with a very unique website and blog. He is a corporate trainer, motivational speaker and coach and his article is below.
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Recently, I have taken great pleasure in seeking and reading about success stories, and real life examples of how a Personal Brand created with intent has resulted in positive outcomes! These stories are so important for any coach, consultant, advisor, and experts – as they help to reinforce the work that we do! I like to share these stories with clients and prospects to provide examples of how Personal Branding can apply to them! I guess these are called ‘proof points’ or ‘moments of truth’, that contribute greatly to anyone understanding a concept.
For many readers or professionals right now, Personal Branding may just seem like a ‘concept’ – something that they understand, but cannot quite see how it could relate to them. Well today, I experienced one of these ‘proof points’ or ‘moments of truth’. The situation arose where I was talking to a prospect about my organizations services, and how these services are priced. Whenever we work with corporate sales teams we ask the sales team “what are you selling” and we spend some time exploring what they believe they are actually selling. Inevitably, our clients speak about price, and how this is what they are selling and what differentiates them from the competition!
Well today, given the complexity of the prospects business and the work required, I decided to quote a higher price for the work. What do you think happened? Well surprisingly, the prospect did not even flinch at the price – they did not even ask for me to justify this pricing (and our fees are not ‘cheap!’). The only objection I got was…”now will YOU be managing our relationship, I don’t want to be dealing with several other people, I want to be dealing with YOU, as I feel that is what I would be buying!” For me, this was one of those ‘moments of truth’ where the power of a positive and influential Personal Brand in action had a desirable outcome.
The prospect today had clearly bought me, which reinforces the benefits of having a powerful and distinct Personal Brand. Exploring this a little further, I want to talk a little about what the prospect was actually buying (the features and benefits of me I guess you could say!). But I quickly want to cover another issue I have seen discussed on many sites lately about Personal Branding v Corporate Branding.
Well, in short, if other staff members in my organization display and project the same brand attributes that I do, then my prospect will have no difficulty in dealing with anyone else in my organization. I believe there is no such thing as Personal Branding v Corporate Branding – the issue is more about Personal Brand aligning with Corporate Brands, and Personal and Corporate Brand ultimately aligning with customer needs! So what did my prospect buy today when he bought me?
I believe Personal Branding, and powerful Personal Brands come down to these 5 attributes:
1. Past Achievements – know what you have achieved, and be able to communicate this concisely and make sure it is relevant to the prospects needs! (For example – what have you done that is remarkable that is related to THAT prospects business)
2. Personality – Be unique. Understand your personality traits that make you unique and desirable, and then work at articulating these at every opportunity. (For example – I am friendly and infectious, so I ALWAYS talk to the other staff in a business when a visit a prospects office).
3. Powerful Presence – Simply become a class act! Understand the style that is unique to your personality and work. Chose an article of your dress that emphasises your unique style! Dress for the business you want, not necessarily the one you have. Follow this up with a simple hand written note and a bottle of wine, and send a follow up email with a link to a subject you discussed earlier – these 1% differences add up to 100% in a very short time! (for example, I have a wine producing client, so every time I meet with a prospect and talk about wine, I file this away, and then send them a case or bottle a week after the meeting to remind them of our conversation and shared interests).
4. Partnerships – Never stop developing a selective network – and never stop thinking of ways you can help them be more successful! Surround yourself with the best partners; they will develop your Personal Brand further than you ever could! (For example – take the previous example…think how you can ALWAYS be developing new business for your existing clients and partners – but be selective about this business, remember scarcity is the first rule of sales success!)
5. Presentation – Learn to be a confident communicator in a style consistent with your style and brand, and that will be attractive to your target audience. Never stop being a more effective communicator – this is central to the art of persuasion. (For example, I seek every opportunity to speak publicly. I have a generic 20 minute presentation that I keep for any occasion, and keep practicing it at every opportunity)
Above all take your brand seriously, and protect it like it is ALL you have to sell! (because it is!)
