Building Your PersonalBuilding Your Personal BrandBrand

Rob Hagen Next Generation Dealer Services

Becoming A Person Of Influence

What is Personal Branding?What is Personal Branding?

• The process by which we unearth what makes us special and then communicate that to the our customers.

• There are so many sales people competing for the same customers that personal branding teaches us how to stand out, be found, and align our true authentic selves with those that want to do business with us.

5 Cornerstones Of Building a 5 Cornerstones Of Building a Personal BrandPersonal Brand

• Create Valuable Content – Become A Thought Leader

• Influence Others To Talk About You

• Follow Up With Past Clients

• Talk About Other People

• Listen To Conversations, Then Engage

Create Valuable ContentCreate Valuable Content

• Become a Thought Leader, Showcase Your Expertise

• Create Blog Posts, Videos or Podcasts– Blog Post: 5 Things You Can Do Right Now To

Increase The Value Of Your Trade– Facebook Wall Post: If you could ask a car

salesperson one question, that they HAD to answer honestly, what would that one question be?

– Video: How To Stay Confident During The Negotiation Process

• Post On Dealership Blog, Email Us

Influence Others To Talk About YouInfluence Others To Talk About You

• Becoming a Thought Leader Will Get People To Talk About You

• Influence People To Like Know And Trust You…And They Will Talk– Let People Know The Real You– Communicate On A Personal Level– Always Do What You Say You Will Do

Follow Up With Past ClientsFollow Up With Past Clients

• Build Real Relationships By Getting To Know Your Past Customers

• Turn Past Customers Into Your Personal Brand Ambassadors

• Give More Than They Expect– By Giving People Just What They Expect

Wont Influence Them To Want To Talk About You… Go Above And Beyond

• Be Exceptional

Talk About OthersTalk About Others

• By Talking About and Referring Others, The Will Reciprocate

• Spend Time Lifting Others Up And They Will Lift You Up

• Nobody Believes You When You Talk About Yourself, Be Humble and Influence Others To Talk About You.

Engage!Engage!

• Listen To The Conversations That Are Happening Around You and Join In

• Add To The Conversation, Don’t Take Away

• The Less You Pitch The More You Sell

• By Engaging On A REAL level You Will Start To Build REAL relationships That Lead To REAL Brand Ambassadors

Give Your Brand A VoiceGive Your Brand A Voice

• Be consistent. It’s hard to be consistent when the person you are trying to be is not who you really are.

• Speak to your audience not at them, don’t use industry terms and always remember to speak in a conversational tone, even when you are writing.

• Have an open mind, remember it’s what your customers want and it won’t always coincide with what you think.

Using Social MediaUsing Social Media

• Create A Home Base

• Build Onsite Content

• Find Communities To Join– Facebook Groups– LinkedIn Groups– Local Community Forums

• Answer Questions– LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook

• Engage Whenever Possible

Final ThoughtFinal Thought

Always remember that you don’t own your personal brand, you can help to shape it but ultimately it’s not what you think it is, its what your customers say it is. If you want to know where you stand, if you want to know which direction you should tale next, just ask your customers, they know the answers.