People See The Brand First

Personal BrandingHave you ever been mistaken for a clerk in a store? Perhaps
you’ve been asked to show someone a car when you, too, were shopping for one?



My friend Shawna Schuh was speaking at SignalCon, a
conference hosted by NSA Oregon in Portland
last week.



Shauna is one of the small percentage of professional
speakers that is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). She garners frequent
flier miles like a rock star gathering twitter followers.  Like most of us that fly to make a living she
works on airplanes and dresses comfortably so she can.



She opened with a story about boarding an airplane in her working
attire: black slacks, button front work shirt with shoulder epaulets and comfortable
flats with her hair pulled back into a pony tail.



As she entered the plane a cabin attendant berated her
saying, “Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!”



Shawna turned, looked behind her, saw there was no one there
and then turned to really see the cabin attendant who was dressed in black
slacks, flats and a button front shirt with shoulder epaulets. Shauna explained
that she was actually the last frequent flier passenger to board and took her
seat.



The take away from her presentation is:



“People don’t see us.
They see the brand first.”



Kathy, my Sales Consultant friend was there as well. Later,
I asked her what she thought about that idea.



Fletch, she said, “Shauna is dead on. One of my areas of
expertise is the staffing business. People jump to conclusions so fast you
can’t keep up with it. The thing is that men and women do it differently and
the conclusions they jump to are different depending on a lot of things but
being male or female is the biggest one.”



I cocked my head to one side, squinted at her and muttered,
“Huh?”



She said, “You know that story you old me about your PhD
daughter about to chair a funding meeting at the Pentagon being mistaken for an
assistant and given a coffee order?”



“Yes,” I replied.


Kathy continued, “Would that general have assumed that a young
man was there to take a coffee order? 
I’ve had the same sort of thing happen to me for as long as I can
remember. You know I work with folks from the C-suite down but whether I’m
presenting to a CEO or doing a ride along with a new sales person I have learned
that I have to dress in tailored business suits and wear heels. Successful men
tend to be tall so the heels give me an edge. I’m close to six feet tall so I
can look them in the eye.



When people look at me dressed for a business meeting or
consulting gig they see a successful business woman. But if I run into someone
in a hotel that I met in my traveling clothes on an airplane they seldom
recognize me.



I know you cover this stuff in the No Budget Branding TM
segment of Marketing Without Money TM but Shauna’s point is something everyone
needs to understand.



How you dress is part of your personal brand. What you say
enhances your personal brand. Your behavior can boost or belie your personal
brand. Everything you do is matched against people’s expectations.



You can’t afford to
confuse clients and prospects.
Don’t wear anything that could get you
mistaken. Use the terminology that fits your brand. Walk your talk. Make sure
they see you. Be the personal brand they look forward to.”

What are you doing to assure your personal brand meets their expectations? Just
as importantly, what are you doing to remove your own brand blinders?



Jerry Fletcher is a 20 year professional member of the NSA
(National Speakers Association) He keynotes on three continents (so far). Learn
more at www.NetworkingNinja.com



Jerry is a Marketing Rainmaker and a Contact
Relationship Magician.
He consults in the US
and Canada.
Learn more at: www.JerryFletcher.com