Home / first impression

Category Archive for: ‘first impression’

Brand Chris Botti- Impress Your Peers? 0

chrisbotti.com

Last Saturday night, my husband and I went to the Chris Botti concert again this year.  For those of you who don’t know Chris Botti, he is a brilliant trumpet player.  He was “discovered” by David Foster and has a growing fan base. He has a remarkably strong personal brand.

Botti not only plays the trumpet fabulously, but he connects with his audience in an amazing way via his instrument.  Oftentimes for artists who play instruments, it can be a bit more difficult to establish a strong personal brand.  The artist has an instrument coming between him and his audience so it is hard to make eye contact and stay connected.  However, Botti manages to blend just the right amount of eye contact, conversation in between sets, and personal connection stories about himself, his band and his music. And of course, his music itself establishes a fabulous connection and brand to his audience.  In fact, he always has his trumpet in his arms on stage, even when he’s not playing.  That is all a recipe for a strong brand.

Botti always manages to have meaningful dialogue with his audience as a way to connect and help us get to know Botti the person and personal brand.  Last year he told us how he left college in his last semester because he just had to go play with Sinatra’s band and follow his dream of becoming a famous trumpet player.  Obviously it paid off.  This year Botti made a point of discussing with us the importance of showing up  well wherever you go and impressing your peers as a means of building success.

What this means for all of us is that having a strong personal brand comprised of the visual elements and the core value/integrity pieces is how you impress your peers.  These peers then often serve as your referral base and source of contact to others who should and need to know of you and your personal brand.  So go out there and impress your peers with your genuine and strong personal brand!

Posted on: 09-19-2011
Posted in: Behavior, Business Brand, first impression, Personal branding, Uncategorized

Are You Always Late? 1

Are you always late getting to meetings, events and places? Do you figure you have done the best you could to get there on time and it’s got to be good enough that you even showed up? Do you assume that no one will really notice or mind that you are late? Do you beg for forgiveness when you get somewhere late? Or worse, do you always have a really really really good reason why you are late…again?

We all have a tendency to have “life” come up when we are rushing out the door to get to a meeting or to work. However, at some point being late becomes more consistent and we get noticed for being the late one. If this happens, you are now stuck with a pretty ineffective and notorious personal brand.

As I always say, people buy people, not products or services. So, what does it say about you, the person I am supposedly to buy, if you are most often late to our meetings? People will draw all sorts of conclusions about you when you are late- even three or four times in a row. They assume you don’t value their time and may get offended. They assume you can’t take care of yourself and manage yourself, so how can you possibly manage their business needs? They assume you don’t have enough help to manage and properly allocate your schedule. Or they may assume you just can’t read time!! Well, maybe not so much the latter. But they may just write you off as being ignorant of time.

I have someone who handles my calendar and schedules all my appointments just wonderfully. However, I had a stretch of three days where I was running ten minutes late pretty much to every appointment. It was starting to drive me crazy. I had to stop and assess what was going on because it was getting embarrassing. I realized that I was pushing the envelope and underestimating how long the commute between appointments would be. It was not any one’s fault except mine. And I wasn’t going to let it reflect poorly on my personal brand.

So if you are running late often, stop and reflect on why it is so. Do you have a good calendar blocked off well for appointments? Do you estimate well how long you’ll be in a meeting and how long it takes you to get somewhere? Do you pad your time to ensure optimal personal brand success?

Email us your best, “I’m so sorry to be late to this very important meeting story”, and we’ll publish it anonymously in our next newsletter.

Posted on: 08-29-2011
Posted in: Behavior, Being Late, Being Memorable, first impression, Personal branding, time management, Uncategorized

Watch Your Body Language Over The Phone! 0

telephoneart.com

Your effective personal brand is in large part about how you communicate who you are to your target market and clientele.  Given that 78% of all communication is non-verbal AND given  that we spend so many hours on the phone selling and working, having effective body language and posture over the phone is just as critical as having effective body language during an in-person meeting.

When we are going out to see clients or prospects or to a networking event, we spend time and effort (hopefully!) on our visual appearance.  We take time to (hopefully!) give ourselves a pep talk and get ready to be “charming”.  However, people notice and pay attention to your phone voice and tone, too.   So why shouldn’t you spend time getting ready to make phone calls, too?

Your posture and how you feel about yourself as you make or take a phone call speak volumes to the other party on the call with you.  I’ve run many experiments to test this theory. We’ve had people answer the phone in a less-than pleasant mood, while slumped over in their chair wearing pajamas.  The party on the other end of the call often times remarked concern and asked, “Is everything ok? You sound not well.”  Is this how you want to be remembered on the phone?

Remember:

  • Dress the part- while you don’t have to wear a suit to make a phone call, ask yourself if you’d be happy to be on a visual call while you are on the phone.  If the answer is “no”, then your phone voice and tone will resonate that same lack of self- confidence to the other party over the phone.
  • Smile as you talk.  Your smile will transfer non-visually into an effective personal brand for you over the phone.
  • Sit up straight in your chair as you talk on the phone.
  • Give your full attention to the party on the other line.  Shut down your email and do one thing at a time so you can do it well.
  • Uncross your legs so you are grounded and feel stable as you speak.
  • Listen and pause- don’t do all the talking.

 

Posted on: 08-8-2011
Posted in: Business Brand, Communication, customer service, first impression, General Image, nonverbal communication, Personal branding, self-confidence, Uncategorized
Page 1 of 212»