Taking a patient, but thorough, approach to building your name and your brand takes dedication and determination.
Taking a patient, but thorough, approach to building your name and your brand takes dedication and determination.
Here's is a question I’ve received more than a hundred times in one form or another: ‘How do I make a (better) name for myself?’
Here is the premise, the definition, and the answer: In sales it’s not who you know; in sales it’s who knows you.
The challenge is not just making a name for yourself or building your brand; it’s building the components that generate that name. How do you achieve more recognition, more notoriety, and a better reputation in your market and your community? Those are the elements that lead to a better name.
And to be clear, I’m talking about a better name for both company and individual.
There are no easy answers. And there are very few answers that don’t require commitment, planning, and hard work.
The good news is that most salespeople are not willing to do the hard work it takes to make selling easy. So if you’re willing, you automatically move to the top 10 per cent. And if you execute, you’re in the top 5 per cent.
The better news is that, when the economy is in transition (that’s a nice way to put it, isn’t it?), it’s the easiest time for you to make a change, and begin to execute new ideas.
There are the things you must begin to put in place now. Below are the actions that lead to long-term name building that must be implemented, and built on. None of these elements is ‘do now and forget about’, rather they are ‘do now, do tomorrow, and do forever’.
• Blog
It’s your way to communicate your thoughts and ideas to the world. Take a look at www.salesblog.com as an example of what works. Blog to show your human side. Make your blog a family affair, not just your business side. Show your person, your personality, your passion, and your fun. Mother Google will find you and reward you with listings.
• Create your own weekly e-zine
Look at my weekly email magazine, Sales Caffeine, as an example. Go to www.salescaffeine.com and read about it. Look at an issue and emulate the process in your weekly e-zine. Sales Caffeine is 12 years of weekly value messages.
• Register www.(yourname).com today
If it’s taken, put ‘The Great’ or ‘the one and only’ in front of it. Get your web address, your URL address, registered today. The world is on the web. The internet is never going away. It’s the growth and the future of commerce. Be on it, or be gone.
• Invest in a small but powerful website
Make sure it’s something people would read, admire, tell others about, and maybe even buy from. Start with a one-page website that talks about ‘how I treat my customers’. Make a list of the 10 most valuable things you are dedicated to. Later you can add more pages, pictures, graphics, and pizzazz. But start small and be compelling.
• Be more proactive
This means hitting both the phone and the send button. Make 10 calls a day that have value, and send 25 emails that have meaning to the recipient. Build relationships and earn referrals.
• Write something that puts you in front of customers and prospects
Put an article in your trade publication or your chamber magazine. Writing leads to recognition. Writing positions you as an expert and an authority.
• Give a speech or two at civic organisations
Speaking leads to perceived leadership; especially if the speech was good.
• YouTube
Video your value proposition. Video your testimonials. Video your philosophy of sales and service. Post your videos on YouTube. Your customers and prospects will find them, and find you more attractive than your (lazy) competitors.
• Get more Google-able
Your customer is Google-ing you, just like you are Google-ing them. Your one-page website, your e-zine, your article, your speech, and your community involvement will bring your name and your company’s name to the top of the Google pile.
• Be a value provider
Don’t be a beggar, a solicitor, or a salesman. People will buy if they perceive your value. And they will spread the word, and your name.
Your name means everything
Name and reputation are intertwined. Your value-based information, your exceptional service, and your quality of product and person determine your reputation, your name, and your fate. Those who become valuable to their customers, their marketplace, and their community are the ones who win short term and long term.
What are people saying about you?
When someone says your name, they’re also going to say one of five things about you: something great, something good, nothing, something bad, or something real bad. Whatever they say, determines your fate.
If you want to build name recognition, and a great reputation, you have to dedicate yourself to the long-term process, and the short-term work.
Jeffrey Gitomer is an American author, professional speaker and business trainer, who writes and lectures internationally on sales, customer loyalty and personal development.
© 2015 All rights reserved. Don’t reproduce this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
