Sales Leadership: 3 Questions About Your Brand

I attended a presentation last year given by Elijah Steenhoek at the Senior Star living facility in Cincinnati, OH. Elijah’s topic, brand and branding. Looking back, it is one of those presentations that I was thankful to hear.  It gave me great insight and contemplation, encouraging a closer look on the topic.

For a lot of companies, brand seems to be something you can spend a lot of money on and never be sure what value it ultimately brings. Other companies, like P&G, Apple, Google and Michael Jordan clearly have become household names, creating brand recognition with huge demands and revenue streams.

Elijah’s compelling speech and insights prodded each participant in the audience to ask,  “Are you congruent with your brand?”

Companies can spend millions on telling the world that “Client satisfaction is #1” and yet when you call, you get caught up in the “let me transfer you to...”, until your are ready to scream and pull your hair out.  And then just by happenstance, you meet someone who represents the company in a non business setting. You relay your experience, only to hear “yea that happens all the time, we’ve given up trying to solve the problem, its like the company doesn’t really care.” WOW... what a surprise! The business isn’t congruent with the message it is sending its clients and their people are in the middle. They don’t walk the talk. 

How does your organization stand up? What is its brand?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What would your clients say is your brand?
2. What would your employees say is your brand?
3. Is your company and its leadership congruent with the brand recognition you want?

These are important questions to answer, and your opinion doesn’t count! You must go to your clients and your employees to get their answers, and you must listen intently and without opinion. Your opinion does not count!! 

Think about it. What impact is this having on your sales organization and their ability to capture revenue? How can you achieve sales excellence when people have to work around other people's perspectives and opinions to win clients and improve sales performance? 

Your brand is defined by outcomes. Outcomes are the results of behaviors. Behaviors are driven by intention & expectations. Are your intentions and expectations clearly understood? Are they driven by values. What are your values and how are they defining your brand? 

Your Evolving Sales Leader | have fun, it is fundamental