Everything Changes When You Understand Your Value
An amazing shift takes place when you connect with your unique value. It’s an incredible ah-ha moment!
When you truly understand your value, you present yourself with confidence; your body language changes; your communication changes; your relationships change and the way others perceive you changes dramatically.
For years, women have come to me for guidance on how to promote themselves. They struggle with feeling authentic and comfortable talking about their talent and accomplishments even though their resumes and experience tell a story of great success.
Why is this?
Because we struggle to fit in and be like everyone else in order to be liked. Now, as professionals, we are told that we need to differentiate ourselves and it doesn’t feel right. Somewhere along the line we get messages that we should be quiet about our talent. As a consequence, it becomes more difficult to make the connection back to what makes us truly unique.
We lose the vital connection with who we really are and our unique value proposition. We listen to everyone’s advice on who we should be, what we should do and how we should do it. This external focus distracts us from our own inner wisdom and our core essence.
What does it take to find ourselves again?
In her new book, Take the Lead, Betsy Myers says,
Leadership is a function first and foremost of self-knowledge and honest self-reflection.
How many of us take the time to figure this out?
How can we present ourselves to the world or promote ourselves authentically if we don’t do this self-reflection to find our unique value?
Understand that authentic comfortable self-promotion can’t be faked. It comes from a true understanding of who you are and what unique value you bring to the world.
Take the time to discover your value and this will be your foundation for career success and fulfillment.
I am offering you the opportunity to discover and connect with your unique value proposition so that you present yourself to your clients, your prospects, your colleagues, your friends with authenticity.
The GPS Your Career Group Coaching Program is a journey of self-discovery that will dramatically change your business and career by helping you to position yourself successfully.
This four week course starts February 15th, 8-9pm Eastern and includes four 60 minute coaching sessions, worksheets and stimulating exercises to help you do the deep dive and de-clutter to re-discover who you really are and what you have to offer your company or your clients.
No more struggles with self-promotion! No more struggles trying to get clients or be noticed at work!
The class is limited to 10 participants, so please register now.
How to Write a Book to Attract Clients and Benefit Your Business
How many times have you said to yourself that you have to write a book to help you promote your business and speaking, but you keep putting it off? It seems overwhelming. Where do I start? Do I even know if this book will help my business? Today we are going to discuss specifically how to plan and write a book that will help your business with my guest, Sophfronia Scott.
Featured Guest
Sophfronia Scott helps entrepreneurs and speakers to write and publish books to market their businesses. She is the author of the bestselling award-winning book, Doing Business By the Book: How to Craft a Crowd-Pleasing Book and Attract More Clients and Speaking Engagements Than You Ever Thought Possible. Her latest book is How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times. Sophronia’s website: http://www.doneforyouwriting.com
Listen to the January 23rd, 2012 show.
What Do You Do?
Someone told me once that the first question Americans ask each other when they meet is, “what do you do? And I’ve noticed that this is true for the most part. Whether our first encounter with someone is at a cocktail party, a networking event, or the gym, people seem to want to know what we do more than anything else. Perhaps we ask this question because we think it’s the best way to find out more about someone with whom we want to connect. But is it also based on the assumption that once we know what someone does for a living, we know a lot about them?
This is an interesting blog post for me because my coaching work helps people answer this question and the advice I give about positioning yourself and communicating your value to others is the focus of many of my workshops. This post, however, is not about how you answer the question relative to your career. This post is about the importance of identifying and connecting with who we are as individuals because, quite simply, our profession has become our identity to a large extent.
Case in point: say you have decided to leave the work force to become a stay-at-home mom. You don’t have a “job” to speak of. When asked this question, your response may be more about what you used to do rather than what you are currently doing. In this situation, we can be defensive and even apologetic because we don’t place value on ourselves outside of a job.
Now I will ask a question that I often ask my clients relative to positioning themselves in the workplace, but with a new twist. Put your resume aside for a minute. What are you all about? What are your values? What are your strengths? Who are you today? What is unique about you? What have been your accomplishments as a person not an employee?
The answers to these questions help you define yourself as an individual. These are the unique core qualities that stay with you no matter where you work or what you do.
As much as I coach my clients to stay connected to their value proposition and understand what they bring to the table, I think it is also extremely important for us to realize that this is just a part of who we are. Our jobs do not define us. Our unique value proposition is who we are as individuals and that includes what we do, but what we do does not define our identity.
Using Benefit Language: What’s in it for Them?
Basic sales training instructs us to use what are called WIIFM’s, “What’s In It For Me?” statements. WIIFM’s focus our sales efforts on how our product or service benefits the customer. They are meant to shift our mindset from our own agenda to what the customer wants and needs.
It has been my experience that using this benefit language is often the missing piece in elevator pitches as well as the communication of personal brand messages. As a result, many of our pitches fall flat. The use of benefit language makes an impact on our audience.
If you are an entrepreneur, think about your own elevator pitch. Do you make this important connection from your product or service to your customer’s wants and needs? A simple way to do use benefit language in your pitch is to state clearly what you do and then add, “what this means to you is”…
Here is an example. I could say, “My name is Bonnie Marcus and I coach women entrepreneurs to promote themselves effectively.” OR, I could say, “My name is Bonnie Marcus and as a professional coach, I help women entrepreneurs overcome their negative beliefs about self promotion, feel more confident and comfortable selling, so they can grow a successful thriving business.”
The same principle holds true for personal branding. Perhaps you have identified your value proposition, but do you use benefit language to state the business impact?
For instance, maybe I’ve identified that my value proposition is building strong teams. That statement alone does not have as much impact as when I tie it to business results. Find out what matters to your contact and make the connection for them.
Here’s how you could tailor your message.
” I build strong teams. What that means to my organization is that I help create more loyal, happy, and productive employees. Increased employee satisfaction means less turnover, lower employee acquisition and training costs. Also more productive employees means faster turn around on projects that results in more satisfied and loyal customers.”
Get the idea?
Don’t assume that people automatically connect the dots and bridge the gap between what you offer and how they can benefit. Don’t leave it to chance. Everyone wants to know what’s in it for them. Clearly communicate the benefit and the business impact to make your pitch or brand statement more powerful.
Do Our Jobs Define Who We Are?
When we lose our job, it can be devastating. Very often it means a dramatic change in income. Our daily routine suddenly changes, and we are left with a tremendous void. After all, most of our waking hours are spent at work. How do we fill the time?
All this is true, but I think the loss of a job means more to us on a much deeper level.
In my recent interview with Dianna Shandy and Karine Moe, we discussed how much of our identity is based on our job or profession. When we leave the workforce, voluntarily or not, we lose that identity.
I love the example they brought up in the interview of their conversation with a women from the UK who said the first question everyone asks in the UK is “Where are you from?” Here in the United States, the first question asked is always, “What do you do?”
What you do defines who you are for better or for worse. A friend of mine who does not work once confided in me that she was embarrassed and struggled with how best to answer that question when asked. She didn’t know how to properly answer it.
Shandy and Moe commented that when women leave the workforce, they often continue to define themselves by their previous occupation. “I’m a former teacher, former attorney etc.” as if, being a stay at home mother is not an acceptable response.
Take some time to think about who you really are outside of your profession. What adequately defines your unique qualities and personality? After all, we are much more than what we do for a living even if we are passionate about our vocation and successful.
The passion and energy you might have for your work says a lot about who you are, your values.
This is the foundation of YOU, not your job.
Help Others to Help You
I was in Rhode Island last Friday giving a workshop on Promoting Your Brand to Rhode Island Networking to Open Doors to Jobs. I arrived early and was, therefore, able to sit in on the facilitated networking exercise at one table. All of the people at the table were highly qualified and competent individuals who held director or executive level positions before being laid off.
The facilitator at the table asked each person to give a little information about their background, their strengths and expertise, and what kind of position they were seeking. I was impressed how well each person articulated their strengths and what types of companies and jobs they were targeting for employment. Everyone around the table responded enthusiastically with potential contacts and leads for their colleagues.
We worked our way around the table to one woman who told the group that she was an architect and was now in limbo and trying to decide what she wanted to do going forward. She told the group that at this time she was looking for any type of job. Interestingly enough, the group who had previously been so helpful to others, now remained quiet. They simply did not know how to respond.
The lesson from this is: People really want to help. In fact, most people are eager to assist you in getting a new job or getting clients, but YOU need to give them enough information so that they CAN help. When we are vague and unclear about what we want ourselves, we cannot expect others to come up with the answers for us.
If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, the more specific you can be about who is your target audience, the easier it is for people to refer business.
If you are looking for new employment, be clear about what type of company you want to work for and what kind of position you are seeking.
People sincerely want to help. Give them the opportunity to be helpful.
Create a Great Elevator Pitch
Have you ever been to a networking event where everyone needs to stand up and introduce themselves? I don’t know about you, but after about 3-4 people stand up and recite their elevator pitches, I can’t remember who does what. Very few of them capture my attention. Even less of them are memorable. They all sound alike because everyone is using the same approach, the same boring approach.
How then can you distinguish yourself? How can you stand out in the crowd?
We all want to sound professional, but in our quest to be professional, our pitches often fall flat. The goal of a good pitch is to attract clients and be memorable. So how do you create a great message; one that is effective and “sticky”?
I find that most of the pitches I hear do not have the “sticky” factor. And many of the pitches are very difficult to deliver. They are too technical or too wordy and, therefore, lose the audience. Some of the pitches are too vague. Sometimes we use jargon that no one understands in an effort to sound professional. The end result is that people may think we’re smart, but they have no idea what are business is.
Here are some tips on how to create a great elevator pitch:
- Your message should be authentic. Don’t use a lot of jargon or professional language that is off putting. You won’t connect with people this way.
- Your message should be personal. Tell your story. People love stories and they remember them.
- Put energy and passion into your message. Let people know that you love what you do. Don’t you want to work with people who love what they do?
- Make an emotional connection with you message. Identify the need and pain of your target audience so that people can easily identify with what you provide and they will remember you.
- Make your message easy to deliver, conversational. Don’t write a speech that you need to memorize and recite. It doesn’t sound authentic. It’s boring.
- Stimulate curiosity. Give a teaser or enough information so that they want to learn more about you.
- It might be appropriate to make it light and fun. Try using cliches, song titles or quotes to begin your pitch and get people’s attention.
Promotional messages take time to create. Start big, not small. Brainstorm and write down all your ideas about how to present yourself and THEN review your notes and pull out sound bytes to craft a great message.
For more tips on how to create a great elevator pitch, listen to my Women Mean Business show, Tune Up Your Pitch. On the show, I coach 3 women entrepreneurs through a process to tune up their pitch!
www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=43836
The Importance of Defining Your Personal Brand
I recently did a radio interview with Lois Frankel, PhD, author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich and our discussion included some valuable tips from Lois on the importance of developing a personal brand for career success.
Here is an excerpt from my interview with Lois on personal branding.
“This is probably one of the most important things I think right now. As the economy has gotten tighter, as jobs have gotten harder to land, you need to see yourself as a personal brand. And when you think about brands, we buy brands because we trust them. We know them. If you’re a brand, then you need to be communicating why should people trust you. Why should they buy you? One of the ways you do this, and I actually have an acronym I use for this. It’s called WALLET to build your brand: W‑A‑L‑L‑E‑T.”
“What I say to women is “Write down” what you want people to say about you when you walk out of a room. There’s a word on the street about all of us. It’s what people say about us when we leave a meeting, but you can craft that. You can decide what you want that to be, so write it down.”
“The A stands for “act on it.” It’s not enough for me to write down what I want you to say. Now I have to identify the behaviors that I have to engage in for you to see those things about me. So if I want you to see me as self confident, what do I have to do? I may have to speak more loudly. I may have to speak more often. I may have to use numbers more often, which means I need to do the research. So write down the actions that you have to accompany the brand statement.”
“The first L stands for “Look to the edge.” That means look to the edge of your playing field. What are the women doing in your organization who are successful? because they’re playing their game at the edge of the playing field. Games aren’t won in the middle of the playing field. They’re won at the edge. So look at what the other women are doing, and most of the time, emulate those behaviors. There are always exceptions, as I said.”
“The second L stands for “Let other people know about it.” You could have the best brand in the world. But if you don’t talk about your achievements and your accomplishments, don’t expect other people to kind of dig them up. So there are subtle ways you can do that. There’s a wonderful book that’s called “Brag: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It” by Peggy Klaus that I recommend women read. Learn how to brag a little bit.”
“The E stands for “Elicit feedback.” All brands do brand research, or do focus groups. Well, your focus group is 360‑degree feedback. It’s getting feedback from the people who work with you, who work for you, who you work for, clients, customers all around you. Find out what they’re saying about you. What are they saying about your brand? That’s the only way that you can hone your brand and make it a better brand.”
“And then last, the T stands for “Treat others with abundance.” I’m just a firm believer in the more you give away the more you get. So make abundance part of your brand.”
To hear more from Lois Frankel, you can listen to the archived interview:
http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=42576
Also, check out my new January teleclasses:
Promote Yourself to Success (3 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6
90 Day Action Marketing Group (6 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6.
for more information and registration:
http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/services/group-coaching/
Choose Three Adjectives
Carla Harris, Managing Director on Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley, is quoted as saying that she believes the key to success is identifying “three adjectives you want people to use to describe you and then training people to see you that way”.
I love this idea! What Carla is really doing is creating her personal brand message by choosing these adjectives.
So, how do you decide which adjectives best describe you?
Try this exercise.
- List your top 3 personality “pluses” or your personal strengths that have contributed to your success.
- Record 3 of your recent accomplishments and review the list and reflect on what these accomplishments say about you. Write your answers.
- Look at both lists and choose the top 3 adjectives.
Now you are ready to go. Develop your personal brand message using the three adjectives. Incorporate your message into your social media profile, your website, your resume, your bio.
Write a personal affirmation using the three adjectives and keep it visible. Recite the affirmation daily so that you can easily identify with your message and the adjectives that best describe you.
How are these adjectives for a starter?
- Competent
- Self-confident
- Successful
What are your three adjectives? Let everyone know who you are and what you are all about.
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