Does your visual image reinforce what you’re saying?

Irina has an attractive look, for a tennis ball, that is. You see, Irina still is wearing her hair in a very severe, very bleached blonde, very short cut that looks like a barber did it with a single setting on his buzz cutter. I am sure that this was a stunning look on her young face in the 80s. Now it makes her head look like its ready for Wimbledon. Irina is a hair stylist who wonders why she doesn’t have enough business. Has she looked in the mirror, lately?

Your visual image, what you physically look like, is part of your personal brand. It can either reinforce what you’re saying verbally or it can introduce doubt in a large way.

Let’s look at Brandi, a gal who caught me at a recent networking event. Her self-intro was simple, yet powerful and immediately captured my interest when she said skincare. As soon as I heard that word, my eyes went instantly to her face to see how her skin looked. It was flawless. Without her having to say another word, I was completely convinced of her abilities as an esthetician.

Whatever business your in, you want to be sure that how you physically look is cohesive with it. This is especially important if you are in a field that is visually orientated like fashion, beauty, photography or design of any kind.

7 Reasons To Be Loaded With Trigger Talk

Have you ever stumbled over the question “What do you do?” When you are prepared you can engage, inform and even “Wow!” the other party.

At ShoutBrand we called these prepared responses “Trigger Talk” because you are ready to “fire them off” at any given time. “Trigger Talk” sentences are carefully crafted, edited, rehearsed, tested, refined and finally memorized. The "Elevator Pitch" or "30-Second Self Commercial" are forms of “Trigger Talk.”

Be sure to create “Trigger Talk” for the most common questions people ask, especially these two: What do you do? and Tell me about yourself...?

7 REASONS TO BE LOADED WITH TRIGGER TALK
IT GIVES YOU:

1. The WOW FACTOR
2. TIME to think about what you’ll say next
3. INCREASED TRUST as you come across smartly
4. The ability to DELIVER INFORMATION you want them to have
5. An ENGAGING edge
6. A MAGNETIC energy which draws people to you
7. A great IMPRESSION every time

You will want to have a lot of “Trigger Talk” in your back pocket. The more you have on “Trigger” the better. Get loaded-up and give your Personal Brand fire power.

What questions do you have a hard time answering?

Over-sharing has reached epdemic proportions

If you think the national obesity crisis is bad, then read on to find out how we are over flowing more than our jeans. Over-sharing personal information has reached epidemic proportions. This mouth-on-speaker phone phenomenon is destroying businesses faster than a speeding bullet. It's like a cancer that slowly spreads and eventually takes you out.

You are especially at risk if you render any type of ongoing personal service. Hair stylist, estheticians, personal trainers, massage therapist, front desk staff, financial planners, to name a few, are ranting and raving, complaining about their personal lives to their clients to a degree previously unknown. Not only are they bad mouthing their significant other and family members they are often guilty of annihilating the very business they are working in or for. They hold no secrets when it comes to even the most intimate health problem. This massive unburdening to clients is totally inappropriate and is often the reason why client don't come back.

Your clients are NOT your friends.
Personally, I have heard detailed stories about romantic  relationships with no intimate detail left out, domestic violence, extreme religious view points, drug or alcohol abuse issues, problems with teenagers, cheating spouses, financial and credit problems, and the list goes on. The "ick" factor increases when I know and have business or personal relationships with the person they are targeting.

Your clients will settle for less
Have you ever had a client leave and go to another provider who is not as good as you are? Over-sharing may be the reason. We will take a lesser service for a better experience. For example, I will take a good haircut over a great hair cut if it is served up without a cocktail of misery.

When I am paying for a service, I expect to have your full attention. End  of story. If you need to download, unload, or otherwise commiserate, please do so on your own time with an appropriate person. Note to self: this is not your client.

The Bartender Business Model
There is an easy example to keep in your mind, bartenders; The old school kind. People often go to their local bar to "drown their problems." The stereotypical bar keep listens, gives the occasional nod and pours them another drink.  In any movie or TV show have  you ever seen the bartender unload on the drinker? No. The bartender knows the job is to serve drinks. Can you image going to a bar, ordering up a beer, and having it served up with the comment, I am sorry this took so long, I just got off the phone with my boyfriend, well, former boyfriend, see he just broke-up with me. Can you believe he did it over the phone?! What a pig! Just the thought of this comment should make you cringe. And yet this, is the type of over-sharing that goes on all the time.

Bartenders know it's a one way street. Clients may choose to over-share, but bartenders know their place. Their place is to serve their patrons drinks. It is not to serve up their problems. They know it is not about them.

If you are not getting repeat business and referrals are few and far between, you may want to look at your interactions with clients. It may very well be something you said.

Do you think over-sharing is an issue?

What went right in 2012?

Now that the potential Mayan end of the world has passed and we can collectively breathe a sigh of relief, it is time to consider what went right this past year.  Specifically what went right in your professional life? It is important to acknowledge and honor things done well before we dive into goal setting for 2013.

There are the big, obvious things that went right; such as you landed that ideal client or perhaps two. Or you made more money, had more speaking gigs, launched a new product or finally got your book out. Many years we don’t have this kind of landmark progress. Even or especially in really tough years, we do have steady incremental forward movement.

 Take a moment and think about the small things that went right.

• Do you now know how to do something you didn’t know how to do before? (Everyone gets to check this one off, as it is impossible to function in the business world today without learning new things.)
• Did you become a better writer?
• Do you have more connections on LinkedIn? Even one more?
• Did you get a new headshot?
• Did you get more involved in social media?
• Did you improve your skill set in a certain area?
• Did you take a class or engage in any type of training, even a webinar?
• Did you get a piece of professional attire that you feel really good in?
• Did you just make it through a really tough year, in one piece?
• Did you make up a new personal rule or motto this year?
• Did you laugh more? Or lose your temper less?

Big things done once are often overrated while small improvements over time are underrated or may even go unnoticed. Give yourself a big congratulations for all the small things done right.

Tell me, what went right for you?

Does your audience want what you’re giving them?

At this time of year, many of us are out and about buying gifts for friends and loved ones. When selecting a gift we imagine what the person might need or want. You may think about their lifestyle, what struggles they are going through, what they do for a living, where they live and even how old they are.

Or you may give them what you think they need, without any regard for whether they think they need it or not.

As simple as gift buying sounds, it’s often not easy. Surely, you have memories of gifts gone wrong on both the giving and receiving ends. This is why gift cards and liberal return policies are so popular. It is also why the term re-gifting is now in our vocabulary and applies to many items beside fruitcake.

Often we need to dig a little deeper. Sometimes that can be as simple as asking a question or two. Take time to implement a little of what we refer to as “honest curiosity.”

Here are a few examples:

For your sister, whom is a new mom living in a cold climate; you start shopping for a beautiful, warm, but washable sweater. AND, after speaking with her and asking a few questions, you find out that she REALLY misses spending time alone with her husband. You finally decide on movie tickets with babysitting included. Both of these gifts are significantly different than what you think she needs, which is a case of Slim-Fast.

For your aging parents, who “have everything,” you assume something consumable is in order. You start researching what shows are playing at their local theatre companies. Since they don’t drive at night anymore, you want to be sure they offer a matinee. AND, after emailing with your dad it comes out that what they REALLY want is a new, small TV for the kitchen and someone to figure out how to hook it into the cable box. Both of these gifts are different than what you think they need, which is a nose hair-trimmer.

For your teenage niece, who is in the band at her high school, you think a set of nail polish in her school colors would be a big hit. You can even imagine her at the football games with her brightly colored nails. AND, after asking a few questions, you find out what is REALLY important to her is to have the latest hand held gaming device. Both of these gifts are different than what you think she needs, which is a t-shirt you can’t see through.

When we are gift buying it’s natural to consider the “audience,” in this case, the person receiving the gift. In the examples above, the first gift idea wasn’t necessarily a poor choice; it just wasn’t the best choice. It wasn’t what they really wanted. And what you really wanted to give them is as different as a TV and a nose-hair trimmer.

As we go through our day-to-day business lives, the same concept of considering the audience always applies. If we can remember whom we are talking to and what their needs, wants and desires are, we have a much better chance of communicating with them effectively. When we take it one step further and practice “honest curiosity” to find out what the unmet need really is we can be even more effective in obtaining our desired result.

When you use this approach the audience, whether it is one or many, will feel like they have received a gift after interacting with you.

The question to ask yourself is: Does your audience want what you’re giving them?