Your Secret Sales Weapon for 2011

You're the best salesperson in your organization. You continuously meet or exceed your numbers. You're at the top of your game and hot! So, how are you going to keep building on your success? What have you got in your back pocket to start off the new year?

YOU and your personal brand are your secret weapons.

Your clients are spending more time online researching solutions and exchanging information. You want to be squarely in the middle of those online conversations. That means a powerful personal brand highlighting you as the resource and answer person for them. Your Linkedin profile is a great place to start building your brand if you haven't done so already. Invest in a professional head shot, update your profile regularly to stay in front of your organization and join and participate in Linkedin Groups. I dedicate one hour weekly to Linkedin and building my business. I believe in being ubiquitous for clients. It's paid off in the form a 40% increase in referrals and sales.

Treat yourself or someone very special to a unique holiday gift!

To celebrate this holiday season, High Gain Companies, Inc. is offering you 50% off our Personal Branding program which is normally a $500 value for just $250.

This program is four one-on-one sessions which focus on building your personal brand and learning how and where to market yourself. The program also enables the recipient to discover what differentiates them from competition. A dynamic personal brand is a great way to start the new year!

Contact: Jan Marino 630-270-9233 jan.highgainco@gmail.com

So What?

Your personal brand is how you package yourself for the marketplace and, in turn, how others perceive you. You want to elicit positive emotions in the market so that when people think of you they do so positively. Branding includes how you describe yourself, how others see you, what need you fill in the marketplace, and what makes you stand out.

There are three steps in the personal brand development process:

• Features: Who are you?
• Benefits: What makes you different?
• Value: What do you contribute?


From now on, you are the product and your job is to sell yourself. In order to do that effectively, you need to know who you are and know your features. ”Features” might include your experience, talents, education, goals, ethics, and accomplishments. “Benefits” are what you bring to the market because of your features (i.e., because of your experience in a particular discipline, you won’t need to be trained and will save the company money and time). Your accomplishments prove that you produce results and you can deliver consistently. Because you set goals, you are disciplined and a self-starter, which saves a company time and money.

What you contribute is the value proposition that you bring to the table. What do you possess that sets you apart? A good way to answer this question is to list your top 10 accomplishments throughout your career and then ask yourself, “So what?” after each accomplishment.

Accomplishment:
Led team of six engineers in a major software conversion project. The project affected 250 clients and was projected to take three months to complete. We finished the project two months earlier than scheduled.
So What?
The “So What?” is that you saved money because the project was finished earlier than scheduled. Providing an exact dollar amount or percentage saved is even more powerful.

List Your Top 10 Accomplishments

Ask "So What?" after each accomplishment

Being Grateful

I read a book several years ago about gratefulness and how it helps you through really touch times in your life. Being grateful keeps you grounded. It speaks to your spirit.

Try making a list of everything you have to be grateful for: your spouse or significant other, family, colleagues, dog, cat, job, talents, accomplishments......As you write this list notice what makes you grateful for the entry. This exercise is particularly effective when you're in a bad mood. Making the list shifts your energy and mood. I keep a list to review when I feel myself wanting to visit "pity city". I remember that my husband is my best friend and cheers me on. I remember that I have a wonderful family and great friends. I remember that my dog loves me unconditionally.

Try to be grateful for the little things you may not always notice: flowers, silence laughter, good coffee, warm socks, HDTV, anything well written, soft sweaters, hot chocolate, sunsets, full moons, fresh strawberries, butter, sidewalk art, stars, wild birds, oak trees, alone time, together time, date night, diversity, options, adventures, bubbles, bling hockey, hugs, ocean breezes, anything purple, naps!!!!

Pity City

I once had a manager who told clients "You can visit Pity City, but you can't live there!" Great advise for job transitioners. It's really easy to get into the pity mode and spread bad karma to everyone else. Here are two exercises to keep you out of Pity City:

Take an afternoon and go somewhere quiet. Write down all the things you don't want to do i.e. boring work, working with stupid people, etc. Write as many items as you can think of in 30 minutes. Once you've completed this exercise look at each entry carefully and prioritize your top 10. This will help you see what you really don't want in your next position. This exercise will also help you eliminate feelings around those things you don't want in your career. Once you're written down the gripes, you feel lighter.

Now take 30 minutes and write down all the things you want in your next job. Think about every possible situation and person who make the job perfect. Notice how you feel while you're completing this exercise. Writing about position situations and the way you want your workplace to be give your more energy and you become more positive.

Pity City drags you down. The less time you spent there the better.

Keep Your Sanity During Your Job Search

Here are a few tips to help you keep your sanity during your job search. Looking for a job can be very isolating and exhausting, so try a couple of these:

Volunteer a couple of hours a week

Leave your resume alone for one month....don't change anything!

Build your personal brand. Who are you? What makes you unique? What need to you fill in the marketplace?

Remember, this is a temporary situation. It won't last forever.

Watch a great funny movie every so often. Monty Python....anything by Mel Brooks...

Become a guest blogger and write articles about your speciality.

Make one new networking contact a week and find out how you can help them.

Take ten deep consecutive breathes three times a day.

Exercise thirty minutes daily.

Become social networking savvy. Try becoming proficient at Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.

Smile more.

What is Personal Branding and why you should care

Perception is everything. That's why Personal Branding is so important today. Your success depends largely on how you're perceived in today's marketplace. Because the talent market has become so competitive, you want to stand out from the crowd and have your "story" down. Creating your personal brand is a sales campaign where you are the product. You are selling you. You want to educate people about who you are and why you matter. Here are a few tips to get the process started:
1. Know who you really are. Make a list of words you use to describe yourself: leader, professional, listener, results producer, forward thinking, etc.
2. Create your "I Am" statement.
3. Use your "I Am" statement when you introduce yourself. Try out different iterations until you find one that works.....you'll know because people will pay attention and ask more questions.
4. Write articles about your industry and become a subject matter expert (SME)and guest blogger. Writing increases your visibility and credibility. Make your articles short, interesting and informative.
5. Believe in yourself and your brand. If you don't, no one else will.
ACTION ITEM:Commit to taking action - what three things could you do this week to begin building your personal brand?