Do you maximise all opportunities to attract new clients and grow your business? Is your personal brand consistent and inviting to attract new clients at any given time or place? The professional service sector is a competitive one and are competing for market share. So having a open, non judgemental mindset is important to grow and thrive.
If professional services businesses or consultants are operating only from a 1 dimension mindset they may well be leaving $$$ on the table and personal brands will be negatively impacted? There are 3 dimensions of operating in business all combining to build an inspired and strong personal brand :
At any time a business or consultant can be operating either &/or one of the 3 dimensions. The default is generally to operate from only a 1 dimension mindset. This can leave their so many professional service businesses at risk of missed opportunities and revenue.
Treating everyone you encounter in your business activities as a potential client, a referral source and a person of value is key in building a broad platform of business and sales attraction.
Often we don’t really appreciate who someone is, who they are connected to, what they do, their assets, and how they may impact, refer or help us in business in some way (now or down the track). It can also bite us in the proverbial to assume &/or dismiss another businesses or persons potential. Assumptions are of course a major dangers in business that result in missed and lost opportunities.
Communication and behaviours demonstrate our true human values and personal brand. Inconsistent and situational responses and reactions that differ can alert to a lack of integrity and business trust as reputation spreads on how we make others feel.
ie: If you have a abrupt nature you may well show up like that to everyone. But if you choose to be abrupt based purely on who you think matters (clients) then you are missing opportunities. And this impacts your personal brand.
Questions to check in with – Do you
- Ignore emails and LinkedIn messages? Manners on LinkedIn really matter.
- Treat staff impolitely & clients politely?
- Not respond to phone calls?
- Treat waiters rudely & your clients as gold?
- Respond to and and treat job candidates totally differently to staff and clients?
- Greet a sales person with automatic curtness, but a client with warmth?Do you listen intently to your senior managers but not junior staff?
- Treat the MD of any business respectfully but the receptionist rudely?
The truth is that we all have done this at times being humans. But it is not the occasional lapse of behaviour that matters but what is the general behaviour and attitudes that matter as a seller, buyer or referrer…
Business and the 360 deg wheel turns rapidly with social media and competition so we can all get caught if we are not mindful. Clients can become suppliers. Suppliers can become clients. Candidates can become clients. Clients can become candidates and so it goes.
Personal & business branding intersects at demonstrating and living core values & business manners. Ideally they should be congruent & consistent across the board. And it makes good commercial $$ sense also. And we get the best out of people too.
Treating everyone respectfully will also minimise stress levels and strengthen the muscle of purpose and business intent. And the positive impact on others is insurmountable – all creating a better social and business community.
Final Thought
Be kind, be thoughtful and commercially smart. You just never know where the next client referral, deal or staff member you want to hire may originate from.
