I got a guy/gal

Bill's general manager was planning his company's kick-off sales meeting. He was looking for ideas for how to improve performance, inspire the team and get them ready for the busy selling season. Bill said to his boss, "I got a guy that goes to my church who does a great job training sales teams, want me to call him?"

If you sell a product or service, the ultimate compliment, the ultimate goal, is to be "the person." Need to buy a car? "I got a person." Want the best steak in town? "I got a person." Need a flower arrangement that will blow them away? "I got a person." If you take inventory of your purchases, chances are you "got a person" too – several.

I love reading Seth Godin's blog. Sometimes it's short and powerful, like this one:

You can buy this from anyone, and we're anyone.

That's not going to get you very far when you sell stuff, raise money, look for a job...

What if instead, you created a reputation as the person or organization that can honestly say, "you can't get this from anyone but me?"

In advertising and marketing, we teach the "Four Keys Of Branding Success." The keys apply to building your personal brand as well, so you can be the guy/gal who people gotta have.

Reach - Are you working with enough customers and prospects to achieve the results you want?

Frequency - Are you in contact with them frequently to make certain you are top of mind when they need your product or service?

Consistency - Are you providing consistent service, consistent contact and have you identified the "one thing" you want to be known for? And are you consistently sharing that message?

Compelling and Creative - Are you sharing your brand message in unique, compelling and memorable ways? Are you providing value?

How would you like to get people talking about you, people reading about you or get any exposure potential clients can have to you in a "nonselling" mode? The Four Keys can be used effectively to make that happen. 

Happy Friday!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.