Expertise Branding
Expertise Branding is the 'stuff' that continues to sell for you when you're not in the room. It is the materials that need no introduction, that can be passed from the person you met to someone else who you may have never met, perhaps the decision maker – without losing any part of the essence of your brand through degradation of 'Chinese whispers' and lessening enthusiasm and connection. Expertise Branding allows your brand message to be continuously re-broadcast fresh from your physical materials without explanation or apology and requiring no added context.
You've probably heard of Personal Branding. That is all about you and who you are. It's what people say when you're not there, your reputation. Expertise Branding is about what you do, what you provide for clients. It's what people will PAY when you're not there.
Many consultants, speakers and coaches spend years building up their reputation only to have it dashed by weak or badly designed products and materials that undermine client confidence. Don't let poor deliverables destroy your reputation.
The three elements needed for continued success in a consultancy, speaking, coaching or training practice are shown in the diagram above.
You need to 'sound good' — your reputation must precede you. Most consultant work comes from recommendation. What other people say about you, those real personal testimonial are so important.
You need to 'be good' — you do need to constantly improve and deliver the best service possible. That's obvious.
But both of these can be undermined very quickly if you don't 'look good'.
Perhaps it sounds rather shallow to place 'looking good' as important (or even more important) than 'being good'. It's just the world that we live in that people do judge a book by it's cover. They judge people by appearances. There's no point in wishing it were different. That's how it is. It's not really that people are shallow of course. It's that people often don't have a lot of time so anything that helps make a decision to be made quicker is good. From most people's experience, things that look rubbish, usually are. Things that are presented badly, usually are. So if your offering looks amateur, it's quite reasonable for people to think that you are amateur. You can't blame them for it. If your business cards are those free ones they will assume that you're not willing to invest in your business and don't value their potential custom. So they won't value or invest in you.
Call us today on +44(0)1865 779944 to discuss how we can turn your expertise into a brand with selling power. |
