When I first became a consultant it was difficult to boost my own brand because I wasn’t comfortable tooting my own horn. It was very hard for me to take credit even when my clients were happy about my great work. But for some reason, it wasn’t hard for me to take the blame for every setback or lack of action on my client’s part!
At the end of each project, it felt like I had climbed Mt. Everest. I was exhausted and had to struggle to get the next client. Thank goodness I had a coach who was able to help me overcome these challenges and boost my brand upward with great momentum.
Today I see many consultants that I coach struggle to take well-deserved credit and talk confidently about how they have helped their clients achieve fantastic outcomes. Great consultants don’t wait around for others to boost their brand. Instead, they take credit for their collaborative work and aren’t afraid to articulate it in their brand messaging. But if you need proof here are three reasons why it’s a must…
3 Reasons Why Only You Can Boost Your Brand to New Heights
1). You will magnetically pull clients towards you. One of the most powerful aspects of being a great consultant or coach is becoming known as “the expert.” This means you can get off the crazy merry-go-round exhaustive work of searching for the next client because people seek you out. They’re eager to follow your advice because they believe in your credibility, competency, and expertise. You can become a powerful consultant who’s known for helping other people transform to reach their ultimate potential, but no one will know it if you can’t confidently and succinctly articulate that message.
2). No one will toot-your-horn the way you can. This isn’t something you can delegate to others. In fact, have you noticed that clients, both private and corporate, often downplay the role you played in their success? They believe that they did it all themselves without really considering the valuable advice you gave them or the coaching questions that helped them see things from a different angle. You have a unique vantage point in how you coached them to success – own it!
3). You give your mindset a boost. It’s not easy being self-employed. You’re going to suffer through the ups and downs of your business. Which is why you deserve to celebrate your wins! When you do great work and help your clients make significant changes in their behaviors bask in the moment. Exploiting your successes will help you embrace a more confident mindset and lead to greater traction and momentum in scaling your business to higher levels.
So now you know you should take credit, but you still might be stuck on how to do it graciously.
There is a fine line between being braggadocios and being confident. Below are marketing strategies that will help you take pride in your work and boost your brand upwards:
1). Weave a client story into your blog or article. When you are sharing your expertise and tips take the opportunity to weave in a succinct client story to illustrate your point. Sharing the results you helped a particular client achieve is an effective marketing strategy. Tip: You can extract a sentence or two from their testimonial to give extra heft to your story.
2). Speak about your success with confidence. Be confident in talking about the success of your work. When giving a formal presentation, weave in how you helped a client with new initiatives that led to successful changes. When you’re speaking to a prospect, conversationally share stories of clients that had similar challenges and what you did to help them achieve their goals. (Only share with others names, titles or organizations with permission of course.)
3). Create best practices from A-Z. Whether you work with private or corporate clients, your methodology from the beginning to the end of the project says a great deal about your brand. Every part of the client experience, from how you interact with your clients, to how you handle difficult conversations, to how you package and share your intellectual property, all broadcasts your brand. You know you have a strong brand and have done excellent work when they sign up to work with you again. (Take some credit for that too!)
You can’t count on your colleagues or your clients to take responsibility for building your business brand. You need to take ownership of your results and then be confident when sharing them with others.
Sarah’s Predictable Results Insights
- Do you have trouble tooting-your-own-horn? Is it because you’re struggling to get results or is it a problem with your confidence level?
- Which consulting or coaching achievements are you the proudest of and how can you share them with prospects?
- What best practices need fine-tuning in order to make your brand stronger?
If you’re struggling to boost your brand, you might be like I was and are in need of one-on-one coaching. If you’re ready for accelerated results, please contact me at 1-800-267-3245 for a complimentary strategy session to see how we can get your business to new heights sooner rather than later.