The Person to See

A Great Resource To Help You Get Your Message Out

A client of mine, Laine Wagenseller (who also happens to be a great real estate lawyer) turned me onto the site aboutfacemedia.com.  These guys produce corporate documentaries which I think may be a fabulous marketing tool for some of you.

I'm personally looking into it.  It is worth a look-see. 

A Touch Of Class

My client Ray Bayat of NetCo Investments really knows how to make the people who help him feel special.

Ray's in the business of buying and repositioning shopping centers.  The lifeblood of his business are the brokers who show him potential deals.  When a deal hits, everyone makes out including the broker who receives a handsome commission.

Ray still finds a way to go the extra mile to let the brokers know how much he appreciates them.  After the deal is done he always sends a Tiffany & Co cardholder to the broker.  It's his signature gesture.

The feedback he receives is tremendous.  One broker from Texas told Ray that "When that blue box arrived everyone crowded around to see what it was."

See, it's not that hard.  All it takes is some thought and a dose of caring about others. 

Valentine's Day Was a Great Opportunity

Did you take advantage of Valentine's Day as an opportunity to surprise your clients?

We bought a few dozen boxes of See's Candies ($6.00/box) and we shipped them to all of our clients' female assistants.  We even included those little Valentine's Cards we gave away in grade school. Let me tell you we were a big hit!

Client touches don't always have to be to the client him/herself.   Could be to the office as a whole or a very important gatekeeper.  The key is to keep surprising and delighting them!

The Right Pen Can Be A Nice Touch

A few years ago I was in a clients office and about to sign a very large contract (by my standards anyway) and he needed a pen to put his John Hancock on the document.  Excitedly, I pulled my trusty bic pen from my inside suit jacket pocket.  My client stopped dead in his tracks and gave me a blank stare as if to say "What the heck is that?"

My heart sank.  I thought he was rethinking the deal.  "What?", I asked with a hint of panic.

"So you are going to teach me and my team about branding?, he asked rhetorically."

"Yea, why?" I countered.

"Here's a branding tip for you", he offered sarcastically.  "Don't give a client who is about to sign a contract of this size your bic pen to ink the deal!"

He then walked around his desk, pulled out a spare Cartier pen and handed it to me and gruffly gestured for me to give him this pen to sign the deal.  Which I promptly did.

That was six years ago and it still sticks in my mind.

As I say in The Power of Personal Branding, "Everything we do or don't do either adds to or takes away from our personal brand."  Act wisely. 

Uncommon Knowledge Is Tough To Come By

I was at a workshop recently and I heard something truly original which I think can help us enhance the value of our personal brand stature.  The workshop facilitator said "If you want to distinguish yourself from your competition work to provide your target audience with uncommon knowledge."

So what did he mean?  What he meant was, strive to provide your audience with information that your competition lacks.  Create a personal brand that people look forward to hearing from because they are curious as to what you will provide them with next.

For example, in real estate anyone can provide market trend reports.  As a matter of fact they are expected.  But can you provide your audience with market intelligence?  This takes a lot more effort and some original thinking.

Here's my suggestion.  Commit to providing your target audience with one piece of new information each week. It doesn't have to be cataclysmic or life altering.  Just original.  Maybe even some gossip (e.g. Did you hear so and so left xyz Company?)

The Best Personal Brands Stand For Something Special

For the past ten years a client of mine who is a mortgage broker has been selling against Countrywide Home Loans (e.g. telling prospects why they should not finance the purchase of their home from Countrywide because he could get them a better rate). 

Low and behold, Countrywide up and bought the company he worked for, United Pacific Mortgage.  On Friday he worked for United Pacific Mortgage.  On Monday he would be working for the very company he told all of his clients to avoid.  What do you think he did?

He refused to go along with the crowd and join the ranks of Countrywide despite the fact that every other broker in his office did.  He just couldn't do it.  How could he explain himself to all of his referral sources who had gone to him over the years because they liked that he is a man of principle?

All this despite the repeated overtures from some very top Countrywide people.  Despite the admonition from one of the owners who sold out to United Pacific that my client was "Making the biggest mistake of his life".

I guess that's why at the time of the sale to Countrywide my client, Phil Tirone was responsible for 25% of United Pacific's total business.

You know what they say, "The personal brand who stands for nothing will spend his whole life chasing the crowd.  Conversely, the personal brand who stands for something will have the crowd following him.

Follow up to Piece on Personal Concierge Services

Earlier this week I wrote a piece  on using personal concierge services to help enhance your relationship building skills.  One of my clients, Ron Gonen gave me the name of a company he has on retainer called insidenyc.com.  He has been very happy with them.

If you decide to use them let us know so we can refer you in to ensure you get the best rate.  We do not receive any compensation for referring or promoting this company.  We just want to help anyone who is committed to improving their personal brand.

The Secret to Developing Your Likeability Factor

Our personal brands are only as influential as the emotion we invoke in others when they encounter or think of us.  What this means is we need to spend a good deal of time on activities that make others feel good about us.  In other words, focus on delighting others.

One of my clients, Scott Harper who is a commercial real estate broker with Colliers International gave me a great idea during class.  He told me there are professional concierge services which you can hire on a project basis.  For example, one of my best clients is into driving formula race cars.  All I have to do is call the concierge service and give them the assignment to arrange a first class day at the track for my client and I.  All I need do is show up.

I have another client, Philip Tirone, a mortgage broker with United Pacific Mortgage who does the same thing at Christmastime when it comes to arranging gifts for his staff and key clients.  He sets the concierge loose on a fact finding mission to discover little known tastes of his staff and clients for purposes of customizing the perfect holiday gift for each person.

See it doesn't take much to delight your clients.  It all starts with a desire to show the important people in your life you care.

Above All Else, Protect Your Personal Brand!

I was having a conversation with a client this morning and he told me a story which illustrates perfectly why some people soar and some will always be confined to mediocrity.

My client and his wife were scheduled to have dinner in Beverly Hills with another couple.  The husband is an associate general counsel with a Fortune 500 company in Los Angeles.  My client got to the dinner early to ensure he would be on time (Great Rainmaker U. trait).  The other couple was late.

My client could see them arrive from where he was sitting.  Initially, the other couple pulled up to the valet car parking attendant.  After a few moments they pulled away and drove around the block so they could pull into the free parking lot.

My client leaned over to his wife and said, "That's exactly why Jared will always be mediocre."  I understood the message loud and clear, it was more important to save the $5 than it was to protect his personal brand.

Is my client right?  Will Jared always be mediocre?  I don't know.  Maybe my client knows more about Jared than I do.  But his point was well taken.  Always protect your personal brand.  Remember, everything you do either adds to or takes away from your personal brand credibility.

If you need more resources on personal branding check out these books:

The Personal Branding Phenomenon

A Brand Called You

You Are The Message

When it Comes to Personal Branding a Little Sacfrice Goes a Long Way

Sorry about the layoff in between posts.  I was away on vacation in Colorado with the clan!  We belong to a destination home club called High Country Club and we stayed at one of its properties.  Just awesome!  If you have little kids and like to vacation you should check it out.

Anyway, onto the art of personal branding.  Let's never forget that personal branding is all about how others feel about us.  One of my clients, Bill Hobin CEO of the William Warren Group shared with me one of his most recent personal branding projects which blew me away.

Bill and some clients went on a hunting trip for a few days.  Bill who is crafty with a camera made sure to take lots of pictures.  Upon his return from the trip, instead of just sending photos to everyone in the mail or via email Bill went the extra mile.  He went to Kodak's photoshop and without much work, made each hunter their own personalized photo album which he sent to each person.

Now think about this.  You have a customized photo album of one of your favorite guys trips which Bill Hobin went out of his way to make for you and which sits on your coffee table in your office for you to look at whenever you want.  How do you think you'd feel about Bill if he did this for you?

When it comes to personal branding a little sacrifice goes a long way.