Building Your Brand Requires the Right Mindset

Source: Ric Payne's Blog  

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Ric Payne.

 The key to building your brand is to first think about what you want people to think and then to put into action whatever it takes to turn that into reality. This is nothing more than a mindset issue. 

I'm frequently told by accountants that they don't like “selling” to clients and prospects because they feel it's unprofessional to come across as a “pushy salesperson.” I agree. BUT I submit this is a mindset issue because professional sales people are NOT “pushy.” They genuinely believe their product or service will create value for their customer.

I suspect there's another reason for not wanting to sell, and that's got to do with a fear of rejection. Accountants are, for the most part, smart people. They enjoy a relationship with clients built on the premise that they are “experts” and have answers to technical questions. It is much easier for [accountants] to respond to a client who comes to them saying “I have a problem or a job to be done, will you deal with it for me?” than for [accountants] to go to a client and say “I have identified an opportunity for you to improve the profitability of your business, would you like me to work with you on that?”

The challenge with this approach to professional service is that you are addressing only those problems your clients know they have and for which they have come to you for a solution. To put that another way, using a medical metaphor, you are in the prescription business not the diagnostic business.

If you want to make a difference in your own life and in those of the many people with whom you have relationships with as clients, team members, mentees, and partners, you need to unshackle yourself from preconceived limiting beliefs and step up to the plate by being willing to swing and miss but, at the very least, know you have given it your best shot. A 30 percent strike rate will likely get you into the Hall of Fame because you will have made a huge difference.

For the complete article, read “Your Brand: Your Mindset: Your Success as Change Maker.”  

From Ric Payne's Blog, May 1, 2015, theconsultingaccountant.com.