This was a timely update from Paul as I was putting together the post on personal branding for sales people. Anyone that is serious as a sales person needs to be aware what their personal brand is. I think this is one of the most overlooked aspects of a sales persons life and should really be developed. As a sales person you need to be aware and in control of what is found when people look for you. This is why it is so important to optimize your LinkedIn profile. Dealing with Customer 2.0 is hinged on being searchable and having a dense online identity that shows you are more professional than the competition. Obviously this is about your personal brand as a sales person but this translates deeply into your company. If you have an extensive presence online providing information and helping people, you are going to get an extra level of engagement from prospects and others looking for answers.
What comes up when you Google yourself?
Chances are if you Google yourself now there may be something that comes up related to you. If nothing else, your LinkedIn profile should show up in the first few results if you have optimized it correctly since LinkedIn has a lot of Google juice. But what if that’s all that comes up about you? Even worse, what if you have negative results that show up? If your customers look you up online, there are some simple things you can do that will help both of these issues.
Remove bad content at the source.
Chances are you just uploaded some pictures or have a profile somewhere that you don’t use or just isn’t how you want to be seen in the professional world. Go to the site and delete the profile, picture or contact the site admins to remove it for you. Sounds like a little bit of work but you will be thankful that this wont come back to haunt you in the future.
Bury it with newer, positive information.
You are on your way to being a Sales 2.0 ninja and the more professional profiles you set up and content you share on sites like LinkedIn, business blogs and sales sites, the other older information will be buried from the front page of Google or other search engine. Start taking control of your personal brand and directing people to your showcase pages and profiles. If you add a new profile and provide content to just a couple sites a week you will see the other listings disappear.
Sales 2.0 in the mirror
You should always be thinking about your customer and helping them by providing valuable information and places to get educated online is a great way to do just that. Sales 2.0 is about using the internet to find new opportunities and build stronger relationships, your social profiles will be the glue that holds your credibility together.