In the current economy, it is not always easy to get new assignments if you are self-employed, a freelancer, or an entrepreneur. The number of orders is declining, competition is increasing and price pressure is high. Many service providers suffer from the “grey mouse syndrome”. So make sure you work well on your personal branding!
Personal Branding And Your Distinctive Character
If you don’t make clear choices, there is hardly any distinctiveness. As a result, you do the same as your competitors. How do you excel with your product or service? Below are a number of statements to take a closer look at your personal branding and distinctiveness.
Gray Mouse Syndrome
It does not require extensive analysis to identify the cause of gray mouse syndrome. There is often only one real cause: a choice has never been made. Not for truly distinctive services, not for a clear positioning in the market, not for customers who create value, not for exceeding expectations, nor for a striking presentation. This is what you can make clear with personal branding.
You Choose Your Competitors Yourself
Don’t we all do more or less the same thing? Anyone who consults the websites of business service providers reads their brochures or listens to the presentations can only come to one conclusion: yes, they are all quite similar. It is often more of the same. Are you bothered by competition? Then you might be huddled together in the meadow, along with many others. Because you determine how many competitors you have, simply by the choices you make and how strongly you have positioned your personal branding. You do this by making the right strategic choices.
Branding Tips
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Don’t Offer Everything At Once
Compare your business or services with a shop. If you place “everything” in your shop window (website, brochure, advertisement, advertorial or publication), there is no direct reason to contact you if your neighbor offers the same. And if your potential customer does not come into your “shop”, there is also no possibility to explain what exactly your specialties are and why he should do business with you. Personal Branding is therefore very important to be distinctive and you give your customer the opportunity to choose your expertise more quickly.
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Give Something Away
That requires something attractive, and accessible that the prospect can benefit from in the short term. Perhaps a free second opinion, a workshop, an invitation where you are the speaker, a quick scan, an e-book, a free introductory service, etc. Be creative and ensure that your offer is prominently presented in all your communications.
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Choose Customers Who Create Value
It is very important for your service to achieve high customer satisfaction. If you rudely ask a satisfied customer for a score and he gives an 8 or 9, you don’t have to worry. Such customers remain loyal to you, start to place more and more with you, consider the priceless and less important, and recommend you to others.
* exceed the expectations of customers and in current orders
* carry out sophisticated relationship management
* give the best guarantees
* invest in extra follow-up (does not have to cost anything)
* provide unsolicited advice and solve problems as quickly as possible
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Make Clear Choices
Personal Branding requires making choices for an area of expertise, a role, a style, an approach, or knowledge of a specific industry. Only by choosing can you excel and make a name for yourself in the market in which you want to operate. A strong personal brand ensures that you are asked: because you choose, someone else can choose for you. If you make clear choices in your service provision, you are able to develop your personal brand, with all the visible expressions that go with it.
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Do You Know Your Elevator Pitch?
Can you tell in a few sentences someone who does not know you and your services, what you do and what you can do for someone? Most people are not very good at this. It is often not possible to clarify the correct essence of their added value. They stick to general and often abstract terms, use a lot of technical jargon, and don’t know how to captivate. It is therefore not possible to stimulate the curiosity of the interlocutor. Sit down and practice until you can present your “added value” clearly and concretely in a few sentences in a good elevator pitch.
Conclusion:
Those who do not choose will not be chosen. In many ways, you remain “grey” which makes it unclear why a potential customer should choose you. You will occasionally bring in new customers, but then the question is how valuable they are to you. Ultimately, it is not about how many customers you bring in, but which customers provide that “added value” to your business and can operate as ambassadors for your services in the market in which you operate. Then customers who at some point are specifically looking for you and you are not the customer.
How Can You Work On Your Personal Branding?
As a personal branding expert, I know how difficult it is to make clear choices and to continuously work on your personal branding. Request one and let me help you become a strong personal brand!
