In the past 24 hours, it is amazing how much material I have come across about self-branding and self-marketing, in one form or another. From conversations with people, to listening to the Managing the Gray podcast (which totally rocks, in case you didn’t get that impression from my last post), to sitting in on a lesson for photographers and a link to David Jay’s blog.
“a life in marketing confirms the wisdom of to thine own self be true. Ultimately, it will feel more comfortable for you; you don’t have to think about how you want to be seen…you have a brand. Make sure yours is honest.”
That is one thing that I have always believed in. Back when I worked for the web design firms in sales, I never believed in selling something just for the sake of selling it if I knew it was not what the client needed. I always worked hard to determing their needs and to make sure I was honest with them.
And for both companies that I worked for, I rocked the sales. Every single month that I was at ScamaTech (who were far from honest in the end, writing hot checks to most of the employees), I was the top salesperson with the exception of one single month. That month, the project engineer actually sold a site simply because I knew it was too good of a client to pass up, and I knew they needed the engineer in on the deal at the very beginning. I was happy that the company got the sale, and I felt that I did the right thing. But every other month I was there, I outperformed everyone. When they tried to bring in “salespeople”, I outperformed all of them combined.
So many sales positions are not about sales at all. They are about service. About talking to people, knowing what they need, getting to know them on a personal level even. Sharing of yourself, sharing your knowledge. Giving them the best value. Making them HAPPY.
As my photography career takes me on a new adventure, I hope to always remember to stay true to myself. That will get me further than anything else – not only in photography, but in life in general.
Zig Ziglar once said, “The quicker you help other people get what they want, the quicker you’ll get what you want.” So true, so true.
Books I Must Make Time to Read:
Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
You, Inc. by Harry Beckwith
Sites worth noting:
Steve Pavlina – Personal Development for Smart People (His articles on 30 day self trials is very interesting!)
DIY vs. Right-Sourcing
2 replies on “Over and Over Again…”
Sounds pretty acurate in my opinion – you can’t sell honestly what you don’t believe in and anyone that does is a thief – they are stealing not only from the customer, but from themselves.
I have to disagree with you here Christine. Your ability to be good at sales has nothing to do with service. It has to do with building relationships, which you do in spades. Which means it’s all about being your genuine self, which you do a pretty good job of. Marketing is kindof a dirty word to me. Most marketing hype I won’t buy into and I strongly distrust any product that smacks of marketing or product placement or if they appear to be targeting me as their demographic. What you are my dear is a people collector. You find something interesting or endearing about almost everyone you meet and you just can’t help yourself, you want to bring them into the fold. It’s a very unique and attractive quality and we all want to be in your fold.