No Budget Brand Building

At some point, every business has to be declared. In the early days it is just you and a small team at best and you have to be able to answer the question, “What do you do?”

You need to start a conversation instead of delivering a commercial.

Usually that is before there are any sales or a revenue stream of any sort. Your mom, family and friends may have invested but that’s not really income. Later on you may have found some angel investors and could even had venture capitalists get involved. That’s if you have a product or service they see as “scalable.”

The conversation is the same if you are a coach, consultant or professional.

You hang your shingle out and discover that you have to “market yourself” in order to get business and you have to keep doing it to maintain a flow of new business. So you begin Networking and stick with it. After a while referrals begin to come in as you learn how to ask for them.

Who you know, what you know and who trusts you.

Everyone tells us that people do business with those they know, like and trust. There is another criterion. They want to be sure we are competent, that we know what we are doing. Who you know is important. What you know is critical. But the single most important element in building a brand, a reputation or a business is who trusts you.

If you are lucky, you discover 30-Second Marketing TM.

This formula works in North America. It is how to answer the question “What do you do?” It is a little too forward in some situations in Europe and South America and over the top in parts of Asia. But, it has been successfully adapted by some in those areas and is vital knowledge for those from outside North America visiting and/or doing business in this part of the world.

The formula, using my consulting practice as an example:

Question: What do you do?

Response: I burnish executive conversations

Question or curious look

Response: You know how people are always asking “What do you do?”

Affirmative answer

Response: Well, what we do is show you how to answer in a memorable way that leads to a trust building conversation, not a commercial. Would you like to know more?

Affirmative Answer:

Response: Cite examples, results and other ways of generating trust in you, your capabilities and your organization by selecting those which are most apropos for the person you are talking with.

Jerry Fletcher

Does it work?

It has landed me six 5-figure retainer consulting clients in the last year. More importantly it has helped them move from five to six figure engagements in two cases and from 4 to 5 figures in the others.

It simplifies and clarifies because it is in sync.

In order to put it into practice, you have to do your homework. You have to understand the company vision, the mission and position. You have to have a working knowledge of your customer/prospect and the things that concern them. (There is always more than one concern but a dominant one will touch 80% of them.)

You could be 30 seconds from success.

E-mail me to learn about getting your hands on the step-by-step methodology and possibilities of personal training for you or your executives.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development on and off-line. He is also a sought-after International Speaker.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com

Get all the Brand Success Stories. Sign up at http://www.brandbraintrust.com/home.html