Increasingly it’s the strength and marketability of your personal brand that is the determining factor as to whether you will be the person that others recommend. This is why investing time and energy in building your personal brand is essential to networkers today.
Imagine the sort of credible, trusted person that you'd be happy to refer to friends and family, and try to become more like that person.
- Be like the man holding the umbrella
- Make first impressions count
What you wear sends non-verbal signals to others about how approachable you are, as well as promoting your competence and trustworthiness. The best advice is to look the part but without the suggestion that you're trying too hard.
- Be charming. Learn from the great Dale Carnegie
- Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. So use it.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
- Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
- Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.
- Become genuinely interested in other people.
- Smile.
- Stop selling and start helping
This is the difference between a shop assistant saying, as you enter the store 'Can I help you' and saying 'If you need any help, just let me know'. The first is selling, the second, helping.
Selling might gain you a customer today; helping creates a customer for life.
- Optimise your LinkedIn profile
Use this step-by-step guide.
- Position yourself as an expert
- Use social media to raise your profile and establish your credibilty and expertise.
- Blog
- Email clients with important, relevant updates
- Get quoted in the trade press
- Run webinars on key issues