How Sales Techniques and Personal Branding Boost Your Position for Success

Personal branding is vital component if sales people are thinking of the long term. Establishing a personal brand is a sales strategy used by many sales people especially now that digital media paved the way to make it easier and faster for you to reach your target market. You can now create an online reputation and image that could translate to sales and help you develop techniques on how to increase sales. "Brand" is defined by Webster as “a kind or variety of something distinguished by some distinctive characteristic." From this perspective, "personal branding" simply means an effort by a professional to distinguish them — straightforward, smart, and essential in today's ultra-competitive market. Having a personal brand can be tremendously advantageous for your career and it can open doors of amazing opportunities for you.

Building Your Brand

Building a personal brand allows sales professionals to relate with prospects and make real human connections. By having a personal brand, you can build emotional connections and authentic relationships, gain credibility, increase the ability to leverage your network across channels which will eventually lead you to leadership opportunities. A solid personal brand can also increase an individual’s visibility in their industry, improve their reputation, leave a lasting impression during online and in-person networking, and sell more to target prospects. As a busy sales professional, your focus is squarely on your prospects and customers — and that's great. However, taking time to cultivate your personal brand has benefits for both you and your clients.

Why Personal Brand Matters in Sales

According to sales experts, the reputation is the primary differentiator in sales today. No matter what they are buying, prospects know that they can get a similar product or service from another vendor. However, what they cannot get from just any provider is the sales experience unique only to you. Therefore, by presenting a distinct personal brand, you will make it easier for your buyers to choose your company or your products and services over another vendor.

If you are wondering how to take the first step to creating your own personal brand, you can start by watching this video.

It can be as simple as creating your personal brand by telling your life stories and the lessons you have learned so far that can add value to other people’s lives. This allows you to create a picture of how your life has changed so people can see how you have enhanced yourself. This video will serve as a guide for sales people in plotting a personal branding roadmap for themselves.

Your Story, Your Brand

In telling your stories, you must first identify your strengths and weaknesses and demonstrate how you have amplified the things that make you stand-out. This is what we call a “value differentiator.” The importance of personal branding for career development not only starts with an understanding of who your audience are, but more importantly, is how to reach them. In most cases, your target audience will be engaged in multiple social media channels. Pick two channels (three at most), in the beginning, and really focus on those (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook) as you are getting started. When building up your personal branding plan, it is vital to understand what outcome you are trying to achieve. What are your short-term goals? Some recommended short-term goals to help you in getting started in growing your targeted following, and to develop and expand your connections. Your goal here is to turn your short-term victories into habits that will help you get to your long-term goals faster. Long-term goals should incorporate building real expertise in your field that captures the attention from your employers based on association and wisdom.

All About Your Position

If you are in sales, you are no stranger to positioning statements. Smart representatives always have a positioning statement about their product or service on hand to combat the inevitable, "What is this about, anyway?" buyer brush-off. A personal value proposition should answer the question: "What are you about, anyway?” When crafting a personal positioning statement, keep your target audience in mind. Your value proposition might be about you, but it is not for you. Express to your target audience what makes you different from others in your industry, profession, or role. If you are not sure what makes you different, spend some time researching your peers and reflect on your individual beliefs and passions.

Basically, in creating a personal brand, you must do the following:

• Tell a story. This wraps up your purpose and what makes you different into a narrative.
• Make it personal. Put your passion on display.
• Borrow brand value. Associate yourself with other strong brands to bring attention to your own.
• Repeat your positioning statement. Reiterate it to emphasize it.
• Be consistent. Pick the one or two ideas you are trying to convey about yourself, and reference them on all your social and online profiles.
• Research. You miss out on the opportunity of setting yourself apart from the competition if you do not research your space. Do your homework.

Your Brand: Fair and Square

In establishing your brand, remember not to badmouth competitors as part of your sales closing techniques. The entire point of a personal brand is to separate yourself from the pack, but you do not have to do it by putting others down. Express your value in terms of your target audience. Your story should be as much about them as it is about you. Today’s sales landscape has changed. For a salesperson, an undefined personal brand will make you miss out on the opportunity to stand out and attain a higher perceived value in the eyes of your prospects. When you are competing in the digital age, the element of human connection is far more valuable. Building and maintaining strong emotional connections to your personal brand, as well as your company brand, can mean the difference between winning business with a client and being kicked out the door. Unleash your sales potential and join us in one of Jacky Lim’s Sales Training Courses. Jacky is one of Singapore’s NLP Practitioner and Sales Coach. Learn how to incorporate the different NLP techniques in your sales practice to unleash your potential.

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