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Personal branding is valuable for any career-minded professional because it helps you stand out from others who do what you do. It’s the key to getting noticed, influencing stakeholders and ultimately achieving your goals. But it’s even more vital for salespeople because:
Image Makes You Memorable
Personal branding helps you bolster your image. By building an authentic and compelling personal brand, you improve your reputation inside your company, within your industry and among potential clients.
Competition Is Fierce
In a competitive sales environment (as is often the case), having a strong personal brand can help you stand out from others who seek to land the same accounts, giving you an edge in the digital marketplace.
Connections Spark Prospects
By positioning yourself as an expert in your field, you can attract higher-quality and more relevant connections with prospects who are more likely to be interested in your offer. Today, 92% of B2B customers are willing to engage with salespeople who have positioned themselves as an industry thought leader.
Trust Spurs Action
Personal branding helps establish credibility and trust with potential customers. By showcasing your expertise, skills and personality, you can establish yourself as a trusted authority in your industry. That makes potential clients more inclined to adopt the product or service you sell.
Missed Opportunities Are Expensive
Personal branding can increase your personal and professional opportunities. A strong personal brand can open doors to partnerships, and other professional possibilities that can help you advance your career.
Fans Become Promoters
When you build a strong personal brand, you build a fan club of delighted clients. The more you engage and support those clients, the more you turn those fans into promoters who become your full-time sales force touting your unique value to other potential clients. A LinkedIn study found that 78% of buyers prefer to work with sales reps who are recommended by their peers or industry experts.
As you can see, the benefits of personal branding are tremendous. So the next logical question is: How do I build my brand?
The personal branding process is relatively the same for most professionals. It follows a consistent framework that’s made up of three serial steps. Yet for each step, there are nuances when it comes to building your brand in the field of sales. That’s because your brand can have an outsized impact on your success and the revenue you can bring in for your employer. Here’s the process:
1. Know
Uncover your Unique Promise of Value (UPV) by engaging in brand discovery. This process helps you define your authentic brand through self-reflection, unearthing the six drivers of your personal brand: values, passions, differentiators, superpowers, purpose and goals.
After completing your self-reflection, seek feedback from people who know you (especially current and former clients) to validate the results of your brand discovery. A 360 degree survey will help you get candid feedback. After all, your brand is held in the hearts and minds of those who know you. This validation process helps you refine your thinking and clarify your brand—your UPV.
2. Show
This is the step in the process where you tell your story and develop the tools you need to deliver a powerful first impression. As a salesperson, you need to spend extra time perfecting your LinkedIn profile. 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level executives consult social media before making purchasing decisions. Prospects will check out your profile before deciding to take a meeting with you. People want to work with people they know, like and trust. In addition to positioning you as a credible expert, your profile must establish an emotional connection with prospects. Avoid writing only about your accomplishments and accolades.
Equally important for salespeople is mastering virtual/hybrid presentations. Your LinkedIn profile can open the door to a pitch, which will likely happen online. There’s a lot of temptation for your prospects to multitask, so you need to practice the three Ms of online presentations. Make them magnetic (capturing the attention of the prospect immediately), mesmerizing (holding their attention) and memorable (creating lasting impact).
3. Grow
To build a strong brand, you need to be visible, available and valuable to your target audience—the decision makers and influencers who are making decisions about you. In this step, you build a communication plan to deliver value to this community through social media platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube. Sales reps who responded quickly to social media inquiries saw a 9.5% increase in annual revenue. Video can be an especially engaging and effective way to communicate with potential customers. By using video, salespeople can show their personality and enthusiasm for their products or services, which builds trust and credibility.
To significantly grow your brand, you need to be clear about your topic and point of view, have a consistent cadence to your online communications (strong brands don’t go into hiding) and be available to engage with those who are interested in what you have to say.
The best part about personal branding is the opportunity to align who you authentically are with what you do and how you do it. As a sales rep, focus your efforts on discovering, expressing and expanding your brand—and watch your success soar.
William Arruda is a keynote speaker, co-founder of CareerBlast.TV and co-creator of the Personal Brand Power Audit - a complimentary quiz that helps you measure the strength of personal brand.
