You and Your Brand

You’re an asset.  Don’t forget that.  Your skills, the way you conduct yourself, your reputation and integrity define your personal “brand.”  And just as we develop brands for businesses, ensuring the message is correct, that the promise is delivered upon, etc., you must constantly be aware of your personal brand in your dealings.

If you’re in the beginning portion of your career, keep the following in mind:

1. Do what you say, say what you do — don’t promise something you can’t deliver.  
2. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your Mother, Priest, Spouse or the New York Times to know about.
3. It’s true, keep politics and religion out of your conversations.  In this political year, I’ve been negligent in expressing my thoughts… but I’m getting better at controlling myself.
4. Social media is easy — stay clean, don’t show the stuff which will embarrass you or your employer.  Look the separation of business and social media is tricky, my recommendation is to be conservative.  Because when you find out you were to liberal in your posts, etc., it’s usually to late to change it.
5. Golden Rule — do what your Mother told you… treat people with respect.  I pay very close attention to how people deal with others.  If you treat the waiter like crap, you show your true self.  It’s simple, but I’m surprised at how badly people treat others.
6. Which leads to Manners — do the simple things, thank you, please, your welcome.  It makes an impression.
7. Polish Your Shoes — two lessons here.  First, be wary of man who doesn’t shine his own shoes.  If you can’t do the dirty work, how can I trust you to get in the trenches when the real work starts? Second, when you walk into a room with a $1000 suit and shoes which look like combat boots, it shows your lack of detail and concern with your entire appearance.
8. Dumbest Guy in the Room — strive to be dumb.  What I mean is listen, listen, listen.  Get the thoughts of others before making a decision.
9. Remember, there is a difference between management and leadership.
10. Ebenezer Scrooge — I love the part in the story, when Ebenezer says he’ll keep Christmas in his heart all year long.  Try to do the same… it’s a 365 day year.  

This isn’t all of the list, but I hope you get the idea.  

Scott

Service Still Matters

In many cases companies advertise what they aren’t.  And when you must advertise your service level I usually find the service is terrible.  Service is best spread word-of-mouth.  It has authenticity when you hear it from another person, not an advertisement.

I was reminded today of the continuing importance of service — in fact EXCEPTIONAL service.  It was time for my 30,000 mile service on my car.  So I set my appointment through the handy technology imbedded in the in-car computer.

Arriving at Northside Lexus of Houston, I was greeted by a friendly Advisor who checked in my car and walked me to his office (yes an actual office).  He patiently explained to me what was involved in the service - explaining each item, made sure I didn’t a loaner car, etc.  At this point, he walked me to seating area’s…  Leather chairs, couches, multiple big screen TV’s, WiFi (and strong signal WiFi to boot) — it was a designer perfect family room.  The second area was a more general area with chairs and tables.  The third, was a business room with all the amenities — a fax machine, printer, etc. etc.  And fountain drinks, juices, coffee, cappuccino were all available.  

Then, Northside Lexus went for the “service kill”… freshly baked cookies…right out of the oven.  It is impossible for any man on the face of the earth to not fall under the “spell” of a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie — it’s like a love potion.  All along the way, my Advisor checked in with me to give me an update on the multitude of items they were checking, changing, tightening, washing and vacuuming, etc.  I received text messages with the estimated time my car would be ready. 

Check out was so fast and the Advisor walked me to my car.  The car was on, with the A/C lightly cooling the car.  And all along the walk the staff said thank you, enjoy the weekend, etc.  And this was like 3-4 people along the walk.  Oh, did I say they used my name.

If I didn’t have things to do I would have asked to stay a few more hours.  Northside Lexus of Houston doesn’t advertise its exception service, it doesn’t need too…I just did.

Scott