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Monday, December 9, 2019

Selling Yourself, Not Your Company - Forbes

Every company faces a horde of competitors. With so much competition, it can be difficult to give your business a unique, appealing identity. One of the most common responses to this problem is to focus on branding.

Unfortunately, while you may invest in crafting an exceptionally well-developed brand, your competitors have likely done the exact same thing. The truth is, sometimes there is no good way to differentiate your company from your competitors. That means selling the unique merits of your company can become an uphill battle.

But don’t despair. When you stop selling your company and start selling your strengths, you can earn and retain customers like never before.

How To Sell Yourself

The key to selling yourself instead of your company is to stop focusing on what your company can do for customers and instead focus on what you can do for them.

Be prepared for different customers to want and expect different things from you. Some are looking for a knowledgeable expert to guide them through your products and services. Others may want someone who will be available day and night to solve any problems. Often, customers just want to work with someone who makes them feel important.

Be receptive to the wants and needs of your customers. Adapt to become an excellent provider of some of the most common, and focus on customers who are most likely to benefit from your unique skill set.

Every company faces challenges in some areas. Selling yourself instead of your company entails being forthright and helping customers overcome any areas of weakness that your company may face. For instance, suppose that a company sells staplers and staples. Suppose further that although the staplers are excellent, the staples are at the same level of quality. Selling one’s company would involve trying everything possible to rope customers into buying the substandard staples anyways. Selling oneself, on the other hand, would involve recommending a better supplier of staples to clients.

This may sound financially damaging. However, many clients aren’t accustomed to this level of honesty. As a result, when you sell yourself, they will do whatever they can to work with you and, by extension, your company.

What Happens When You Sell Yourself

No matter how innovative your company is, customers can likely find rivals that are doing many of the same things. For most clients, the companies they work with will always be replaceable. When you develop a skill set to fulfill customer expectations on a personal level, you become irreplaceable. That means you don’t have to spend every moment working on innovation just to keep your customers from running. While your rivals are bending over backward to win back wishy-washy customers, you can focus your attention on gaining new ones.

Working closely on a professional level with so many clients has a beneficial side effect. Selling yourself leads to the construction of a network consisting of people who want you, personally, to succeed. Those who don’t sell themselves have clients that only see them as a gateway to products and prices. The network built by those who sell their companies isn’t useful for anything else. On the other hand, when you sell yourself, you create invaluable connections that can lead you forward throughout your career even if you outgrow your current company.

Selling yourself isn’t as straightforward as selling your company. After all, when selling your company, the majority of your pitch might consist of listing statistics and other data about the business. Selling yourself requires being open, learning what your clients are thinking and feeling, and adapting to meet their expectations. It is a deeply personal experience, one in which you can’t rely on objective facts.

However, when you learn to sell yourself, the rewards are lifelong allies who are willing to weather any storm to help you succeed. Don’t settle for clients who would have no qualms about turning to your competitors. Start selling yourself and earning true loyalty.

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"company" - Google News
December 09, 2019 at 07:30PM
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Selling Yourself, Not Your Company - Forbes
"company" - Google News
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