Tag Archives: personal branding

A hijacked tagline

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file000303732When we analyze a persons professional reputation, we also compress it into a tagline, your professional reputation in one sentence. It is not what you say about yourself, it is what professional surroundings say about you – your perceived expertise, personal strengths and unique qualities. The tagline should also point towards your potential – what you want to achieve for your customers in the near future. Together with a good picture it will be an exciting marketing tool.

A couple of weeks ago a person found one of our taglines that we made for a consultant on LinkedIn, and she was attracted by it, hijacked it and put it on her own profile. But – that never works out, when you meet her you can immediately feel that it is false. Every tagline is unique.

Can you write your own tagline? Of course, but it will never get the same strength and credibility as when it’s made by experts building on your professional reputation. Wall Street Journal had the other day a fascinating headline ”Your resume in 140 characters”. Of course, they were talking about the possibilities with Twitter but your tagline is a very interesting alternative. It is the exclamation point to your story, and the best way to connect your clients to your professional reputation.

News – Your resume in 140 characters

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWall Street Journal had the fascinating headline “Your resume in 140 characters“. Of course, they were talking about Twitter and the possibility to market yourself in this extremely limited space.

When we work with analyzing and developing your professional reputation we also include a tagline – your professional reputation (as perceived by others) in one sentence. This tagline will indicate your potential for the future and will be a valuable tool. (Länk)

Also, Forbes Magazine is challenging the traditional resume when writing: “In 2013, the traditional resume will be replaced by the breadth and depth of your professional reputation.” Something truly interesting is happening

What is the real value of your professional reputation?

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file000324397628I often say that there is no way to put a price on your professional reputation, its value to you is priceless. Sometimes we get the question if someone has actually estimated the real value and two things come to my mind.

The Carnegie Institute of Technology has done research on what creates financial success among technical consultants. The result shows that 85% were depending on their personal strengths and unique qualities and only 15% on their technical background. When you know your professional reputation you get hold of and can develop both. Of course this is the situation for all consultants.

Economists in the US estimate that 75% of the value of a company lies in its reputation. To me, reputation is created by individuals in that company. This is the reason why global PR-agencies are stating that individual reputation will be a dominant factor in the future.

Reputation is the number one when leaders in Europe are asked what is most important today. This is the value at stake – and  as Rachel Botsman states ”Reputation is your greatest asset – it will be the cornerstone of the 21st century economy.”

The unbeatable combination to be Top of Mind

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AHTwo decisive key factors today for success as a consultant, entrepreneur or leader are your professional reputation and your potential. What would happen if those two joined forces when you look for new clients and projects? You will get an unbeatable combination.

Your professional reputation is your perceived expertise, your talents and unique qualities. When preparing the report to the individuals we engage with, we also include a summary presentation of their professional reputation in 10 lines as well as a tagline. The tagline is your professional reputation in one sentence and, at the same time, your ”pitch for the future” – your Next Big Thing.

We worked with the consultants and management team for Qeep Inc. and Aqilles Invest. One of the founders, Anders Holm, got the following tagline, put together from his professional reputation: ”Anders is a genuine and inspiring leader who creates the result breakthroughs that seem impossible to others”

This is his ”pitch for the future” – his Next Big Thing. The important thing is that it is nothing that he says about himself – it is how he is perceived by his professional surroundings – it is genuine, credible and attractive. Who would not like to hire him?

Politicians – your professional reputation brings out the genuine, inspires and attracts voters.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMany politicians hire PR-consultants to build their personal brand when it comes to an election campaign. How often doesn’t a cosmetic surface crackle, we see it happen time after time and we never seem to learn the lesson? As a politician – you are not a brand – you are a person with a professional reputation. You will arrive second, your professional reputation always precedes you. If you do not know what it looks like, you will act more or less blindfolded.

When you analyze and develop your professional reputation you will bring out the genuine, the things that will inspire and attract voters and create success for you in an election. In this way you will show the credibility that is so crucial today.

Which is your Next Big Thing as a politician – the things that you deep inside feel that you want to accomplish. Combined with your professional reputation, it is what customers, clients – and in your case voters will go crazy about. Unanimous research confirms this fact.

Who is blowing your horn?

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file0001719225336Today Paul Holmstrom, management consultant and chairman of Bioss Sweden sent us a very interesting article from the magazine Fast Company. In this article, Jonathan Rick says that the problem with your bio isn’t the boasting – it is who’s doing the boasting.

Here, he catches the real strength of Your Professional Reputation – it is not what you are saying about yourself – it is what others are saying about you. In this way, it will be a very trustworthy description of your perceived expertise, real strengths and unique qualities. It will also put words to your potential for the future.

When we work with Your Professional Reputation, we present in a compressed form what 10-15 clients, managers and colleagues are saying about you when it comes to those key factors that form your reputation.

90% of the decisions about you are made when you are not present

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styrerom90 percent of the decisions about you are made when you are not present – the only thing present is your professional reputation.

These are the moments when your customers discuss if they will offer you that exciting project or job, or when they consider you for new possibilities within the company. These are the moments when you are valued – all these decisive moments in your career and in your business life.

The important question is: Do you want to take control or take your chances – do you know every part of your professional reputation – the things that decide?

Our program for developing your professional reputation

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOur ambition when we analyze a persons professional reputation is to make it as accurate as possible so it will be a totally trustworthy description of your greatest asset. This is an absolutely crucial starting point in our program to develop your professional reputation. If you do not know how you are perceived, you will be blindfolded.

Since I so far have not met a single person yet who has become successful on their weaknesses, we put a lot of attention on your strengths and how you can strengthen them further. For some strange reason we are often unaware of our actual strengths and this opens up great possibilities.

Our program also deals with how you can put your professional reputation, and your potential out to the market to attract the right customers, stand out and charge more for your services. As a consultant, this is of course a more attractive way then to keep competing with the price.

The power of inspiration

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musicians_in_prague-1What clients care the most about the things that touch, move and inspire them. They make their decisions based on emotions and after that they look for the logical facts that support these decisions.

Inspiration is magically effective and companies that grow more than 15 percent per year do it by inspiring their customers. The question is what creates inspiration since you can’t be trained into being inspirational? It’s hardly the logical arguments that we so often put forward. Instead, it grows out of the magic combination between your talents, passion and ambition. When you know your professional reputation, you also know how to develop these key skills.

Customers crave for inspiration, and they look for people who can inspire them. Do what you love and make the customers love what you do, is probably the best marketing strategy ever. Have a passion of delivering something really good. Stop marketing the things that the customers already assume that you have and market what they are really buying.

Track record or potential for greatness?

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file000789363754Very often we get advice how to land a project, an assignment or a job. Most of the time it is pointed out that your track record is your most valuable asset. At the same time, we see that it is your potential for greatness – the brilliant results that you can create for your client that is decisive. This is also confirmed by recent research (Stanford University and Harvard Business School).

Experience is important, but by itself it guaranties nothing – there is something else at stake here. Your potential is built upon your experiences, your personal strengths and unique qualities.

It all comes together in one place, in your professional reputation. Here, you get the whole picture in a trustworthy way. Please remember that your professional reputation is not what you say about yourself – it is what your professional surroundings say about you. It is without any doubt your greatest asset, considering that you will get hold of “the whole package”.

Are we constantly missing what our clients are buying?

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file0002062790027In most of the presentations that I see we put in the facts that our clients take for granted that we have and we forget what she is actually buying. We focus on historical facts circling around our experience and previous assignments. We keep doing this over and over again.

What the client is really buying is YOU, your professional REPUTATION and your POTENTIAL to solve her problems and challenges in the future. This triggers the curiosity and the decision and after that she goes back to verify that decision by looking at your background. Please – never forget that it is your potential that makes the greatest impact on your client.

How important is a picture to show your professional reputation?

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IMG_9393When we analyze and develop the professional reputation of individuals, we also suggest the possibility of taking a picture that actually reflects their professional reputation. We want to use photographers that sees things in new ways and who also have analyzed their own professional reputation in order to get the feeling of the possibilities. This is of course a new opportunity for gifted photographers.

We have initiated a co-operation with Magdalena Bibik a most gifted photographer (among many other things) and the results have been exciting. The combination of this kind of picture, a short description of your professional reputation, your tagline and your next big thing will be the most effective marketing tool.

The effectiveness of this builds on research that shows that the clients first and crucial decision will be based on your potential and after that she turns to your experience to get her decision logically confirmed. It is done in that order, even if we today often only display our historical facts to the market.

The picture above is one of the pictures of Tommie Cau´s professional reputation taken by Magdalena Bibik

I want to turn my clients into heroes

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LeAh4rsQ6ymFf_d2e5n0kMDSondGsn-iCU1gm3L_ym8,ydQV7f_fZZ2rHFsqklexsdQq_7TkWZJwv2TBIb5SRTI,5QuIStumdShP08x4lYwu99uaUwaQtZrufet-vy5P5kw,GJ0-e8ljG9-srSnBDi6FCSmKlIlRlqbvvArXA5b6Bvo,xCz29UQ-r6XBnrQccuTBgPKHqhAPKK0Gqi-FpApvaaYTo me it is important to reflect upon why I spend all this time working with our concept Your professional reputation and I always come back with the same answer. Whether you are a leader, consultant or entrepreneur, I want to turn you into a hero in your field.

If you start to feel an ongoing stagnation in your job or as an entrepreneur and you don’t get what you want from your talents, passion and ambition, your professional reputation will be affected. Are you where you have to be or where you want to be? If you are not where you want to be, you should do something about it! Your professional reputation is at stake here, it’s constantly valued and your greatest asset.

Today it is all about potential. It is crucial that you should not promote yourself by just historical facts. Your potential makes a greater impact than your experience when you are chosen for a project, an assignment or a job. When you know your professional reputation you will also be aware of your perceived potential. This makes the whole world of difference.

After working with more than 800 individuals, analyzing and developing their professional reputation I see what a great impact it makes. It is simple, natural and it’s effective.

An almost magical individual marketing tool

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAToday it is crucial that you should not promote yourself by just historical facts. Your potential makes a greater impact than your experience when you are chosen for a project, an assignment or a job.

Your professional reputation is a very useful tool since it is your potential and includes your perceived expertise, your strengths and unique qualities. Combine this with your ambition – what you want to accomplish in the coming year, and it will be an almost magical marketing tool.

Your value is in the eyes of the beholder

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file4621259605157This is probably one of the most important headlines of all my blogs since you will not be successful unless it is valued by others. Your professional reputation is not what you say about yourself – it’s how your talents, strengths, results and unique qualities are perceived by others. If you are not 100 percent convinced about every part of your professional reputation, how can you persuade others?

Most people that we meet today agree upon the crucial value of their professional reputation, but very few are aware of what it looks like and trying to figure it all out on your own is close to impossible Yet, as consultants, entrepreneurs or leaders the greatest challenge is to communicate their value, not only to customers, but also vendors, partners, investors or their own teams.

In today’s market you can’t afford not to take every possibility to find the things that is unique and give you competitive advantages. Today clients won’t tell you when they have lost their trust, they will just stop coming to you.

NEWS. You can work with your professional reputation wherever you are in the world.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAYour professional reputation is without any doubt your greatest asset. You can now analyze and develop it almost wherever you are in the world. After the process of analyzing it, we will use Skype for our meetings when we look upon how you can develop your reputation to attract new customers or how to take new steps in your career.

At the moment, we work in English, Swedish, Norwegian and soon probably in Danish. We will in due time try to add new languages and train new partners in different countries who realizes how crucial this is to your success.

”There is no way to put a price on your professional reputation, its value to you is priceless”

 

What story is your professional reputation bringing to the world?

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AndreasStorytelling is probably one of the most underestimated business strategies – ever. One challenge for consultants and entrepreneurs is to communicate their value in an effective way and – facts only go so far. Most people care most about the things that touch, move and inspire them. They make decisions based on emotion, and then look for the facts that support these decisions.

This is why potential – your next big thing is so crucial, it talks to emotions, catches our attention and arises curiosity. According to research that I have presented earlier potential makes much greater impact than experience and historical facts.

Your professional reputation is your story and no data based test in the world can ever replace that. When you know what story your professional reputation represents to your clients and colleagues, you can also start do develop it further. What story do you want your professional reputation to tell in six months time, a year and what do you actually have to do?

 

Credibility – it decides every deal

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA while back I started to explain to CEO of an advertising agency about our kind of business. She interrupted me and said: Ah – that’s my credibility – It decides every deal”  At that moment I knew that I could not explain it in any better way. Credibility is a vital part of your professional reputation – it is one of the six key factors that form it.

Without trust, the most successful company or individual will be destroyed, and an interesting question is what creates trust. First you should have the passion to deliver with excellence and, as Tom Peters puts it: ”Excellence is not an ambition – it is the next five minutes”.

It is also about being open to new possibilities, constantly learning and not being so sure about things. You have to dare to be on the edge where new ideas are formed, to see new openings and be prepared to be wrong. It is about being consistent, honest and practice what you preach, even if it hurts. To share more what you see, not what you know.

When you know the unique qualities of your professional reputation you should try to live it at every moment in every meeting. To have the ambition of constant improvement since you are never better than your next project

You will always be second to arrive

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file000111584763Everywhere you go you will always be second to arrive – your professional reputation always precedes you. If you want to be more successful than you are right now, you need to know your professional reputation because you will always be valued by others. It is others that applaud you, recommend you and hire you. Of course, you can take your chances or, you can take more control over that crucial process.

Your reputation as a consultant, leader or entrepreneur is your greatest asset. Remember that your reputation is not what you say about yourself – it is how you are perceived by others. It is how your clients value your strengths, unique qualities and potential. In the global market, you can’t afford not to take every possibility to find the things that is unique and give you competitive advantages. The price for not taking advantage of your professional reputation is high.

Hire for potential – and of course I prefer to fly with a trained pilot.

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mettem_000050If you are not looking for ambition, passion, sustainability, credibility and the ability to inspire – if that is not on top of your list when you hire, you will never get it.

Today you should seek the irreplaceable that challenge the average – people with passion, ambition and talents, who knows their next big thing. People with potential. For this reason, it is important to consider for a while what individual potential really is.

Potential comes out of the strengths and the unique qualities I indicated above – things that form your professional reputation. Of course, it comes out of your experiences and training. I came into Copenhagen today, flying with Norwegian and when I fly, I absolutely prefer to fly with a trained pilot and not someone who is just interested in flying and has a nice attitude. But – just being trained doesn’t decide how good a pilot she or he is – or has the potential to be.

There are other factors involved here and that is the exciting part and this is something that you really could take advantage today. Soft skills have become hard skills and how well do you know and develop your soft skills.

Soft skills have become hard skills

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WindWe hear it from organizations like  A great place to work, we hear it from the recruitment industry – actually we hear it from everywhere today, how soft skills have become the hard skills – skills that really matter.

Soft skills like passion, ambition, your ability to inspire, your entrepreneurial mind and your trustworthiness determine your success at work, your career and how you succeed as a consultant, employee or entrepreneur. It determines whom your customers will listen to and whom they will trust. Can anything be more profitable to analyze than this?

Soft skills are a decisive factor, but my great surprise they are something we don´t analyze in a proper way. These are the factors that create your professional reputation together with your perceived expertise and experiences. Remember that your professional reputation is not what you say about yourself, it is what others say about you. The truth is always in the eye of the beholder.

In consulting your professional reputation is everything

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Exif_JPEG_PICTUREAs a top consultant you are your professional reputation. It is formed by your talents, experiences, personal strengths and unique qualities as perceived by others. If you are not 100 percent convinced about every part of your professional reputation – how can you persuade your new clients?

Reputation is No 1 in Europe when it comes to what leaders are giving priority to today, and also multinational PR-companies are stating that individual reputation is a dominant factor. It will determine whom their customers will listen to, trust and choose.

Most consultants realize the utmost importance of their professional reputation, but surprisingly few know what it looks like. When you know every corner of your professional reputation, then you have the opportunity to develop it further and attract the right clients. It will open up great possibilities.

Today clients look for the indispensable who constantly challenge the average – and with the courage to act accordingly. Those who deep in their heart think that they can change things.

You are not a brand – you are a person with a professional reputation

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file7121342400901Seth Godin, the marketing icon, recently expressed something that I totally agree upon when it comes to personal branding. He said: ”You are not a brand, you are a person with a professional reputation.”  Your brand or your name is simply your reputation.

Your professional reputation is your most valuable asset. It’s important however to realize that it is not what you say about yourself, but what others say about you. It can be analyzed and it can be developed and is a process that opens up so many possibilities in whatever direction you are heading. You will not achieve anything memorable unless it is valued by others.

The point is that you will absolutely need trustworthy feedback about your professional reputation – trying to figure it all out on your own is close to impossible.

The key to be Top of Mind is your potential

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e-bok3Your potential to solve your clients problems and add substantial value is always No 1 when we are chosen for an important assignment or project. The main question is – how can you in a trustworthy way introduce your potential to important customers.

In order to market your potential in the best possible way you should divide it into two different parts.

Your professional reputation. This is how your potential is perceived by your clients, colleagues and your professional surroundings. It is your perceived expertise, strengths and unique qualities. The truth is always in the eyes of the beholder. There is no way to put a price on your professional reputation, it´s value to you is absolutely priceless. Surprisingly few are aware of the content of their professional reputation, which opens up great possibilities.

Your ambition. Your talents and experiences are of course valuable, but it is your ambition that takes you all the way. An important part of your potential is what you really want to accomplish for your customer, what results you want to create within the next six months to a year?

Your potential is without any doubt the key factor to be Top of Mind – to be the person that your client first will think of and choose.

It´s potential, not experience we go crazy over

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file0001766875399Whom do we choose for a project, to do business with or for an exciting job – the person who has accomplished big things in the past or the person who has the potential of doing big things in the future?

Recent research from Stanford University and Harvard Business School show that your potential makes a greater impact than your experience.The next big thing is more important than the big things you have done in the past.

Heidi Grant Halvorsen writes about this research by Tormalia, Jia & Norton: ”People are much more impressed, whether they realize it or not, by your potential than by your track record. It would be wise to start focusing your pitch on your future, as an individual, or as a company, rather than on your past — even if the past is very impressive indeed” 

By analyzing your professional reputation, you will get hold of your perceived potential which is a crucial key factor. Combine this with your ambition – what you want to accomplish in the future, and it will be an almost magical marketing tool.

I have never before seen so huge possibilities.

Your reputation is your resumé

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file0001722644561Your reputation is your resumé was the interesting headline in a Business report from MIT Technology Review recently. Your professional reputation has come into focus in every corner of your business and work-life.

Your professional reputation is without any doubt your greatest asset and when you have analyzed it, it will open up completely new perspectives in your business and in your job, and the profit will be substantial. Individual reputation is already a dominant factor today. Richard Branson puts it like this in an interview: “Your brand or your name is simply your reputation, you have to fight in life to protect that as it means everything. Nothing is more important.”

Today it is crucial that you should not promote yourself by historical facts. Your professional reputation is a very useful tool since it includes your perceived expertise, your strengths and unique qualities. Combine this with your ambition – what you want to accomplish in the future and it will be an almost magical marketing tool.

90% of the decisions about you are made when you are not present

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styrerom90 percent of the decisions about you are made when you are not present – the only thing present is your professional reputation.

These are the moments when your customers discuss if they will offer you that exciting project or job, or when they consider you for new possibilities within the company. These are the moments when you are valued – all these decisive moments in your career and in your business life.

The important question is: Do you want to take control or take your chances – do you know every part of your professional reputation – the things that decide?

You will either be valued or you will be ignored and you will never obtain anything memorable if it is not valued by others. It is others that hire you, market you, spread your message or applauds you.

Who knows your strengths and unique qualities best?

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAEric Schmidt, Chairman of Google recently said: ”What we are really bad at is seeing ourselves and our strengths as others see them”.

Heidi Grant who writes for Harvard Business Review takes up the same subject in her article You are (probably) wrong about you: ”Who’s right? Who knows you best? Well, the research suggests that they do — other people’s assessment of your personality predicts your behavior, on average, better than your assessment does. The truth is, we don’t know ourselves nearly as well as we think we do”.

What can be more important than your strengths?

It is your professional surroundings that know your strengths best.This is one of the results when you analyze your professional reputation – you will get a complete and trustworthy picture of your strengths and unique qualities. These are without any doubt crucial to your success since it builds on these and how they are developed. We often focus on our weak spots, but so far I haven´t seen anyone being successful on her weaknesses.