It Ain't Bragging If It Is True

“Why should I buy from you instead of your competition?”
This question was posed to a group of sales people several years ago and got various responses.
“My company has the best value for the dollar.”
“We are one of the largest companies in the industry.”
“Our firm offers the widest options for investors available in the market today.”
“Because you get me!”

This last response caused a hush to come over the room and a sense of uneasiness settled on what had been a pretty lighthearted meeting Someone in the group demanded that he explain such an outrageous statement. His answer went something like this, “My company isn’t the biggest in the industry, nor is it the best known—in fact most folks will have never heard of it before they meet me. But a company is really a name on a letterhead that makes promises in a brochure…it is my job to make sure they keep those promises—and that’s what I specialize in—making sure you get the return on your investment that I told you to expect.”

During a break it was revealed that this man had led his company in sales for the past three years and was by far the most successful of all the participants. He also said that he used this “line” when people asked him what he did for a living and as part of his presentation to potential clients.

Regardless of the type of position you hold, your success depends to a large degree on how well you learn to promote yourself. I know that on the surface this seems to run contrary to everything we learned growing up when we were taught we shouldn’t “brag on ourselves”. I’m the first to agree that people detest arrogant, self-aggrandizing egotist. But true self-promotion is simply telling the truth in a way that makes you memorable.

Self-promotion has nothing whatsoever to do with “bragging” or “tooting” your own horn. It simply means communicating your message to the right person in a way that breaks through the human tendency to lump you in with everyone else in your line of work.

A few years ago, I was making cold telephone calls to senior managers in order to set up appointments to discuss consulting and training programs. On one particular call, I managed to navigate the automated directory and was connected to a real human being. The problem was the woman with whom I was connected was the secretary to the man I was calling. I’ll say this, she was a very good gate-keeper and when she finally put me through to her boss he was somewhat flabbergasted that I’d gotten past her. He quickly told me that he didn’t talk to sales people who called him cold and that if he wanted my services he would call me. Rather than retreat meekly, I said, “Before you go, let me compliment your assistant on her skills in keeping sales people from pestering you, however since I’m sure you have sales people who run into the same type of situations, doesn’t the fact that I got through to you on my first try prove that I may have something that could benefit your sales people?” He conceded the point and we made an appointment. Was what I said bragging or egotistical? No, I simply engaged in self-promotion by stating a fact—one which he couldn’t question since I was talking to him!

Over the years, I’ve talked to many people whose careers in accounting, engineering and countless other professions have stalled because they counted on other people to toot their horn for them. Times have changed, and unfortunately those you count on to toot your horn for you have their own agenda. Consider this true story. Carolyn was named Employee of the Month for her work on a special engineering project. Upon learning of the award her manager used her success to further his agenda, not hers by stating to upper management, “You know, when Carolyn came on board I saw potential in her that I thought I could bring out and this proves how good a judge of raw potential I am.” Her boss effectively stole the spotlight.

Sue, unlike Carolyn used the same award at the telecommunications she worked for as an opportunity for self-promotion. She sent emails to the executives that read in part, “I am truly gratified by being named Employee of the Month. I never would have dreamed this would happen when I began working here five years ago as a Customer Service Representative. Two years into my employment I was given responsibility for overseeing five team members and then, last year became supervisor over three five person teams. While I don’t know if it was my willingness to accept new challenges, the skills I’ve learned in handling customer problems or my ability to train new people that led to this award, rest assured that it is appreciated and that I will use it as a motivator to continue to strive for excellence.” This along with sending updates to them on projects she was working on helped get Sue back on the top brass’s radar and led to her being promoted three months later.

Here’s some ideas that can help keep your self promotion campaign from sounding like you are tooting your own horn:
1. Don’t simply recite your resume. Notice that Sue provided information in a story format
2. Keep it short and conversational—develop both a 30 second and a one to two minute presentation —people don’t want to read or listen to long-winded presentations
3. Keep it relevant—you should have several modules for your self promotion campaign, use only the parts that will fit the occasion. For example, in addition to professional effectiveness programs, my company specializes in outplacement, business consulting and individual career transition services. I would seldom include all these areas in talking to a potential outplacement client.
4. Keep it honest—if you can back it up, you aren’t bragging.
5. Don’t try to wing it—write it out, revise it, edit it, try it out on other people and then use it to good advantage.
Have a great and PROFITABLE week!
Robert Hidde
bob@confidentliving.com