None of us ever wakes up, looks in the mirror and says, “Today, my goal is to be irrelevant.” When you go to a networking event or a Tweetup you don’t introduce yourself by saying “Hi. My name is Rose Pineda. I’m a mortgage lender with Mortgages Are Us and I’m irrelevant.” Of course not!
Or do you?
I went to an association meeting a couple of weeks ago and the moderator had a great idea. He asked us to introduce ourselves and tell everyone what makes us different from our competition. I was impressed. We had an open invitation to present our distinctions and value! Sadly, most everyone blew it. I heard “customer service” this and “customer service” that and “we love our customers.” Guess what?…
Excellent Customer Service Is Not A Brand
If you want to be like everyone else in your industry, if your goal is to melt into the crowd of your competition, then simply use any or all of these phrases to describe yourself and your business:
- “I provide excellent customer service.”
- “Our customers are the focus of our business.”
- “We treat our customers like family.”
- “My goal is 100% customer satisfaction.”
- “My customers are the life-blood of my business.”
- “We deliver world-class customer service.”
- “We only hire people-people.”
By the way, if you’re using these phrases, the 90’s called – they want their tag lines back.
These statements are weak, made by individuals who don’t know what else to say. Also, most of the businesses who say these kinds of things do just that – they say it, but don’t deliver. Lastly, and most importantly, none of these phrases are compelling enough to make anyone want to learn more about you, much less do business with you.
You have a brand. The question is do you know what it is? Have you taken time to mold it and craft it into something that accurately and interestingly describes you?
Branding Resources
One of my social media favorites, Chris Brogan, has a free Personal Branding ebook here.
Copyblogger is another phenomenal resource for branding. Some of my favorite articles are here and here.
Michelle Tripp of Brand Forward is another rich resource for branding help.
Words are important. How you describe yourself is important too. But remember, ultimately, stating a brand and living a brand are two different things. Which one is most important to you?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the suggestions and the idea that everyone doesn’t have to be a carbon copy. Go for the purple cow.
Thanks Ben. Carbon copies are the death of innovation and sales. Have a great week!
I saw a link to this on Twitter and decided to read it. Great points. So many people and businesses miss the mark when it comes to describing themselves and their businesses and wonder why they don’t make it. I think living a brand is more important than stating a brand
Hi David! Welcome to Sanera. Thanks for the comment. Once we’ve figured out what our brand is and we’re living it, then we need to come up with creative ways to talk about our brand. More on that in an upcoming post.