Personal Branding For Salespeople

Many companies spend millions of dollars to position and develop their brand. A brand is all about meeting expectations. But when it comes to making a sale, all the money, time, and effort a company spends to position their brand with a decision maker is meaningless if the salesperson doesn't represent the company professionally. And let's face it; B2B salespeople usually have a lot of latitude when it comes to self-management. So here's a key question for you:

What specific things can you do to develop your personal brand?

Your personal brand is your reputation. By taking the time to develop your brand and position yourself as an expert (who can be trusted to act professionally and predictably), you'll end up earning more sales and referrals.

Here are a few things you can do to maximize the power of your personal brand:

• Understand that the best way to broaden your appeal is to narrow your area of expertise; so become an expert in a niche area relevant to the industry you serve

• Write articles for trade publications, online publications, e-mail newsletters and business journals

• Contact radio station producers who put on business shows. They are always looking for material that is helpful to their listeners

• If you're not already a competent public speaker, join Toastmasters and develop this required skill. Offer to conduct seminars at your local Chamber of Commerce and other associations

• Provide your prospects and customers with copies of your articles. It's a great way to maintain "top-of-mind" awareness

The ultimate compliment in sales and business is when people refer you to their friends and colleagues. But remember...when people recommend you, they are putting their own reputation on the line. So if you want to be "referable" then you need to be "predictable" in terms of your sales behavior. Only then will people feel completely confident in recommending you.

The bottom line? To be positively predictable, you need to find customer friendly ways to handle each step of the sales process, and then you need to be consistent in their application. The reality is that many of the sales behaviors that are appreciated by prospects and customers involve extra work steps for the salesperson... so as long as you're not allergic to research, preparation and rehearsal, you should do just fine!

But if you tend to wing it like so many sales people, don't expect to earn too many referrals. See... it really is simple.