I don't care if it's the receptionist, the cleaning lady, or the CFO. Every person in your company needs to know what you stand for and know how to represent that properly.
In my career as a business owner, I've done so many campaigns for clients that say one thing, but when a customer meets their employees or gets to know their service, it is completely different than what was promised in the campaign. And not in a good way.
It's hard for Business leaders to grab this personal branding thing, at first sight. Because it is more known for people that want to be celebrities, business owners, or the marketing superstars representing the company.
But what if everybody in your team becomes a superstar in your company?
You see, I've discovered that personal branding, at the end of the day, is sales. The way to you represent yourself, and the company you work for, WILL affect a customer. WILL affect the credibility of your company, WILL affect a person's decision to buy. Inconsistencies between the image and attitude amongst your employees damages the credibility of your brand and you look unprofessional.
Still not convinced?
Just for an example, imagine if you instructed your team to wear uniforms within your company. What happens if some employees decide not to wear it? Or, some decide to customise it, wear different colours without your permission? It would look weird to your customers, right? And it would feel weird within the team, wouldn't it? Well, picture the personal branding of your employees, as the uniform representing the company, that you would like them to wear. You need to have your people on the same page. It needs to be consistent.
Another thing is, like I said, that personal branding is sales.
You need everyone, yes, I said everyone, to be the go-to person for their role in your industry.
Your doorman should be the best host your guests have ever met, your receptionist should be the expert in connecting people with information they need, your accountant that works back office and never touches a client, should be telling all his network to do business with your company, your service team should be considered the client's expert advisor. All of that, requires personal branding. By lack of that, you MISS an opportunity to sell, up-sell or cross-sell, whenever your employees come in contact with a client.
My best argument: proper personal branding for employees at all levels, will bring you consistent new leads. What if the receptionist started feeding more information to your sales team? What if the department of client complaints knew how to turn a customer around AND get a referral? What if the cleaning lady knew how to share your business and get great referrals from her network?
Can't get that without proper personal branding, folks. What I want to do with this article, is make a case for you to invest more in your employees and their personal branding. From the bottom to the top, your best asset remains your people. And everybody deserves the chance to be a magnet for new sales in your company.
As an expert on personal branding, I want to help your team to be the best, magnetic, selling representation of your company. Get in touch with me personally at branding@shannysommer.com and let's make it happen!