4 Ways Salespeople Can Build a Personal Brand

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but the way you position yourself has the power to positively or negatively impact the sales process. As the world moves through this period of change, salespeople must be ready to adapt the way they are finding customers and closing deals, and personal branding is one of the best ways to influence this. If you’re under the impression that building a personal brand is self-serving or narcissistic, then think again. Developing a personal brand isn’t about catering to your ego; it’s about creating meaningful connections with prospective buyers and fostering a strong relationship with you or your company. Salespeople with solid personal brands are simply people with ideas, opinions, knowledge, and insight. But it’s how you use your knowledge and insights that make the difference between someone with a healthy sales pipeline and a high close-rate, and someone who doesn’t.

Become a Social Media Master

If you want to grow your personal brand fast, then you need to learn how to master social media. Where many people go wrong is trying to be everything to everyone, but it’s important to have a niche or a focus. If you sell financial products, then write about financial products, investments and relevant topics to your industry. Likewise, if you want to make a name for yourself in real estate, then stick to creating content and sharing opinions relevant to that industry. 

The key is two-fold; being authentic and creating content that adds value. I know, I know…everyone and their mother will tell you to “just be yourself,” but there’s a reason this phrase gets thrown around. I cannot stress this enough: the strongest currency you will ever have is being comfortable with your true self. Don’t become fixated on being like others. Your audience will see through your charade if you are not original. Secondly, think about what your followers are getting from your social media pages. Are you educating them? Are you helping them make more informed decisions? Are you entertaining them? Ensure you are delivering value each and every time you post. It’s important to respond to ALL comments. Online relationships must be treated in exactly the same way you would an offline one; you would never engage in a conversation and then leave the person hanging, so be sure to respond to each and every person – even if they just post emojis! 

Vanilla is boring

A lot of people miss the mark when it comes to creating and sharing content because they simply recycle what everyone else is doing. Predictably, the result is boring, repetitive and ‘vanilla.’ You need to be someone who challenges traditional thinking and leaves an impression in the minds of the people you interact with. If you’re going to the effort of producing content, then you need to get into the mind of your audience and think about what would make you stop scrolling. The fastest way to become better known to people on social media is by posting content that taps into human emotion and gets a reaction. This doesn’t mean that you should be offensive or defamatory, but you should consider voicing your opinion. Think about industry trends, problems, and solutions and share your honest thoughts. Think about the sales industry and what bothers you, inspires you, motivates you, angers you. Tapping into these emotions allows you to create content that is unique to you. 

Get comfortable on camera

Webinars are a hot topic right now, and in a world where daily business is done predominantly online, this is something you shouldn’t ignore. If you’re a good salesperson, you will have a solid understanding of your customers’ needs and what service or product you can sell to solve their problem. Even if you don’t feel like an expert in your field, chances are you know enough to teach others something. Determine what your area of expertise is and set up a webinar to cover that topic. Is there an aspect of your product, service or industry that you’re particularly passionate about? Perhaps you could host a conversation around the art of negotiating or the powerful sales strategies that will help close more deals. The more visible you are as an expert in your field, the more credibility and trust you build both for yourself and for your company.

If you don’t want to be on camera, then podcasting is a great area of opportunity. The beauty of podcasting is that you own the platform and are not subject to the ‘pay to play’ model that you encounter with Instagram or Facebook. Building your personal brand outside of the traditional social channels means you’ll have more control and won’t be caught in the cycle of ad spend that is common for the mainstream social platforms. 

Your personal brand also extends to how you present yourself on Zoom calls. Be sure to consider obvious things like your outfit and basic grooming, but also ensure you have a tidy background and mute the call if there is background noise and you are not speaking. I always make a point of logging in early and wrapping a call on time to demonstrate respect.

Use the latest tech

As is the case with all new technology, you will have early adopters and late adopters. You must be the person who tries new technology first! When Facebook and Instagram were launched years ago, it paved the way for brands to engage with their audiences and gave birth to the modern influencer. The common denominator amongst some of the biggest online personalities is that they did not shy away from new platforms which gave them a first-move advantage. When it comes to building your personal brand, you need to do the same. TikTok is taking the world by storm right now which means the platform is ripe for brands to leverage so if you aren’t already on it, then I suggest you download it today. There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube which will help you use it effectively. The organic reach of TikTok is superior to any other platform so you’ll get a far better return on time spent creating content. Think about how you can sell yourself or your product through humorous or educational video content, and if you do it effectively and consistently, then you’ll be onto a winner. 

What do you think? How else can salespeople build their personal brand to attract more customers and close more deals?