selling


Making the Most of Your Brand: YOU!

In this week’s guest post Jennifer Holloway shares her expertise about what is your personal brand and some of the benefits you can get from personal branding.

Making the Most of Your Brand: YOU!

By Jennifer Holloway

Everyone has a personal brand – whether they know it or not; that mix of things that defines who you are and what you’re all about, including:

Your Values – the principles by which you live your life, the rules you use to define right and wrong. Think of these as the foundations on which your personal brand is built. For one of my clients, his values centred around an overarching desire to be genuine and honest whilst still showing empathy to others.

Your Beliefs – what you hold to be important to you, the things that motivate you to do what you do, that drive you to succeed. It could be money, it could be fame, it could be a wish to make a difference. So for instance, I had a client who felt you should always take responsibility and act as if someone is looking, even when they’re not.

Your Reputation – in a nutshell, what you’re known for. Looking at this in more traditional marketing terms, you might call this your strapline. I’ve generated a reputation as ‘The Antidote to Yes Men’ – saying what needs to be said and making things happen.

Your Behaviour – what you say and do that is an outward communication of those deeper values and beliefs. You could think about it as the three words they’d use to describe yourself. Just some of the words used by my clients have been ‘trailblazing’, ‘larger-than-life’, ‘dynamic’, ‘inspiring’, ‘rebel’, ‘connector’…the list goes on.

Your Skills – your strengths, your natural talents, the things you excel at doing. One way to think about this is to look at the things that others come to you for. When I worked in an office I became the ‘go to’ person for writing copy because of my way with words and a love of language (plus a qualification in editing which helped!)

And last, but certainly not least…

Your Image – not just how you look but how you sound as well. This tells people an awful lot about you and will usually tie back in to all the previous things. For instance, one director I worked with used his quirky cufflinks to add a bit of individuality, while another added a large sports watch to his pinstripes to give a hint to the fact he was a keen cyclist.

Put all those layers together and you have your personal brand and the great thing is that if you take the time to define exactly what that brand is and then learn how to promote that to your audiences, you’ll get payback – BIG TIME! Here are just 10 of the benefits of personal branding:

  1. Defining your personal brand gives you the confidence to be yourself.
  2. Being yourself is a lot easier than trying to be someone else.
  3. By focusing on what’s great you add clarity to your brand.
  4. You can also pinpoint the thing that really makes you stand out from the crowd.
  5. Promoting your personal brand helps you sell your benefits to your audiences.
  6. By selling the benefits people know what they’re buying into.
  7. Doing this consistently helps people to trust what they’re buying into.
  8. People like to put things into neat little boxes in their mind, so you give them the box to put you into.
  9. By having you in a neat box, it’s easier for people to sell you and your benefits to others.
  10. If you don’t do all of that, you’ll get left behind.

So do you know what your personal brand is?

About the Author/Further Resources

Jennifer HollowayWith a career including 15 years in the strategic PR and communications, Jennifer knows a thing or two about promoting a personal brand – she did it every time she picked up the phone to a journalist. The result? She stood out from the ‘press office crowd’ and got her stories on the front page as well as national TV.

When not making headlines Jennifer was mentoring and coaching colleagues and, sensing she had discovered a new passion, was inspired to change careers entirely, setting up her own personal brand coaching business, Spark.

Today, she is a personal brand expert, using her knack for spotting someone’s USP and her way with words to help them promote that in everything they say and do. Known as ‘The Antidote to Yes-Men’ her down-to-earth, straight talking, honest style delivers real value by helping today’s leaders discover how, by being themselves, they can be even more successful.

And when she’s not doing all that, Jennifer is living her version of The Good Life, pottering around the garden in her anorak and wellies, keeping bees and feeding chickens – and occasionally sipping a nice glass of Rioja while listening to The Archers.

Visit Jennifer’s website at www.sparkexec.co.uk


Testimonials 3

In this weeks guest post Merlyn Sanchez discusses the subject of testimonials and coaches.

Testimonials

by Merlyn Sanchez

One of the challenges coaches and consultants face when marketing their products and services is the issue of credibility. Prospects have a natural wariness which only increases with higher priced items and services. If they aren’t familiar with you and your company, the decision process can take much longer or even stall.

There are a few ways to overcome skepticism but one of the best is using endorsements from satisfied clients. Unfortunately, many coaches often neglect this simple but powerful tactic. Well-written testimonials create believability, credibility, and a sense of security for your prospective client. They set you apart from other coaches and help you break down buyer resistance. It’s no longer about you telling your prospects how great you are, now they have a recommendation from objective, third-party individuals who have invested in your product and service.

“But I feel uncomfortable asking my clients for testimonials”

Many people are uncomfortable asking for testimonials. But it doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In fact, testimonials can be incorporated into your business process as part of the regular check-in that you should already be doing with your clients. Additional benefits include:

o Customers become active partners in your business which can further your relationship and lead to repeat business and referrals.

o Asking for testimonials keeps you proactive in ensuring that you’re delivering outstanding customer service.

“How Do I Ask for Testimonials”

There are several keys to asking for compelling and effective testimonials:

1. Strike while the iron is hot, ask for testimonials as soon you’ve provided your service or sold your product.

2. Ask for specific details of how your business or service has positively improved their situation or solved their problem. Request specific “before and after” measurements.

Here is an example of a testimonial which offers specific details about the benefits they received:
“We were able to sell our house for $20,000 more than other houses in our neighborhood and we credit our real estate agent, Jane Doe. She brought us qualified, motivated buyers and our house sold even sooner than we expected. We can’t say enough about Jane’s professionalism and hard work.”

3. If at all possible, include your client’s full name, industry, profession, and location. Testimonials by “B.K.” aren’t as believable as one by “Barbara King of Seattle, WA”.

4. Always make sure that you ask for permission before you use a testimonial. Most people will agree but it’ll prevent any problems with clients who might not want to have their testimonial used for promotional purposes.

5. Thank your clients for their recommendation and let them know how important their support is to the growth of your business. If appropriate, send them a gift card or small token of appreciation.

“I’ve got testimonials, now what?”

There are countless ways to use your testimonials for maximum leverage. Here are just a few:

1. Use testimonials on your website. One option is to have a separate page on your website for testimonials. This can be very impressive, particularly if you have many testimonials. However, it’s also a good idea to include one or two on all the pages of your site. For example, if you have a testimonial about your ezine, include it on the sign-up page.

2. Include testimonials in your advertising. People are skeptical of ads so having a success story can significantly increase your response rate.

3. Create a “brag” book. You can keep this at your business and use it during sales presentations.

4. Include a link to a testimonials page in your email signature.

5. Testimonials will increase the impact of all your marketing material, including brochures, direct mail pieces, proposals, and public relations materials.

Famous advertising guru, David Ogilvy said that “Testimonials increase credibility and sales”. Make a commitment to ask all your clients for a recommendation and find more ways to use them to grow your business. The results will be worth it.

Copyright 2007 – Merlyn Sanchez

About the Author/Further Resources

Merlyn Sanchez, Business Coach and Marketing Consultant teaches coaches, consultants, and other solopreneurs how to attract more clients, make more sales and have more time to enjoy their lives. For a free report outlining the “8 SMART Strategies that Successful Business Owners Use to Attract More Clients”, visit: www.smartbusinessowners.com


One String to the Bow: Five Lessons for the Two-Dimensional Coach 4

In this week’s guest post David Lurie shares five lessons for coaches:

One String to the Bow: Five Lessons for the Two-Dimensional Coach

By David Lurie

I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of coaches over the last couple of years, and it has been striking about the differences between them. While many coaches are truly excellent, some seem to suffer under the belief that by coaching others they can paper over their own cracks. It seems clear that coaches should be working under the same philosophy as professional therapists. If a therapist has to continue to receive therapy while providing it, why shouldn’t a coach receive coaching?

Lesson 1: Coaching others doesn’t mean you don’t need coaching yourself, although it is true that teaching leads to great amounts of learning.

A second problem that some coaches seem to face is that they don’t know what kind of coach they are. While a good coach may be able to focus on a wide number of areas, a good businessperson has a niche. I would imagine that we’re all capable to some degree of coaching on a number of different subjects, but that doesn’t mean we should. At Setsights Ltd, I officially provide Career Coaching and Interpersonal Skills training. That’s two simple services that more often than not are exactly the same: most clients need interpersonal skills training to aid their careers, and although I do my fair share of training on CV-writing and occasion relationship coaching, my bread and butter work is targeted.

Lesson 2: As a coach, ensure you not only have a niche, but that you’re selling that niche.

Training is another interesting area. I realise that I’m setting myself up for a lot of abuse here, but I thoroughly disagree with the high number of NLP Practitioners out there. While I have found some NLP principles are very worthwhile, I’m of the same thought as Derren Brown that only Bandler’s original work is valid, unlike more recent developments. There is no shortage of psychology research that proves NLP wrong.

I personally find it better to offer certain lessons from NLP, from CBT, from TA, from business (I have a background as a management consultant) and Lacanian Analysis, not to mention a whole host of other areas where I have picked out the best information

Lesson 3: The best coaches understand the valuable parts of what they offer and stop offering the rest. They seek to learn from a variety of approaches and not a single one.

Blog. Write. Contribute. I would hope to see the average coach taking part in #hashtag chats on Twitter (if they use Twitter), submitting research to magazines like The Psychologist and writing for publications like the national newspapers (I personally try to contribute to The Guardian as it has my favourite careers section). You should be blogging about your thoughts, getting guests to write on your blog, and writing on other people’s blogs. This doesn’t just raise your profile, it lets you learn – and for that matter, you need to be open to learning

Lesson 4: Contribute new thoughts, and through this process be open to learning.

The final lesson is that you should always leave lessons to be easily learnt, without having to tread new ground. In that spirit, find below the five lessons in one place:

Lesson 1: Coaching others doesn’t mean you don’t need coaching yourself, although it is true that teaching leads to great amounts of learning.

Lesson 2: As a coach, ensure you not only have a niche, but that you’re selling that niche.

Lesson 3: The best coaches understand the valuable parts of what they offer and stop offering the rest. They seek to learn from a variety of approaches and not a single one.

Lesson 4: Contribute new thoughts, and through this process be open to learning.

Lesson 5: Ensure clients can learn easily without repeatedly re-treading the same ground.

About the Author/Further Resources

David Lurie is the Managing Director of Setsights Ltd, through which he provides four services: he provides career coaching one-to-one to people looking for their first job or to change job; he runs training courses on career skills in top universities including Kings College London and the Queen’s University of Belfast; he teaches people to build stronger interpersonal skills, including helping them with their confidence and relationships (yes, even dating); he gives talks on mental health and careers in secondary schools. He juggles all of this thanks to a combination of caffeine, insomnia and a small army of interns (not to mention his three associate staff) who do all the difficult stuff while he gets to have fun with clients.

When he isn’t coaching, he enjoys reading, writing and arithmetic, and his hobbies include performing stand-up comedy and writing biographies about himself in the third person, which he struggles to take as seriously as he probably should.