So I’m on my way home the other night and I stop at a gas station to fill up. The gas station is at an intersection that is notoriously filled with panhandlers. As I was filling up my car a man approached me. He had on nice shorts, a polo shirt, nearly new shoes and a fake gold watch. He appeared to have just taken a shower and I could smell his cologne from a distance. He didn’t look like a panhandler when he approached me and I was curious about what he was going to ask me. He ended up asking for $16 to get his car back that had been towed. The “reason” for $16 was that his ATM would only give him $300 and the fee was $316. Actually he had a real long story about it and he kept talking to the point where I was like, you got me, here’s $5. He even said thanks friend.
Now Ill be honest, more times than not I don’t give panhandlers money. If I do it may be a couple of bucks. But his appearance, presentation, story and everything was very good. It sold me!
It got me thinking about how we treat our online presence. Do you carefully craft the look and branding of everything you do? For instance does your website, blog, Twitter, Youtube, and others have a consistent clean presentation? How about that profile picture that goes all around the Internet? Does it portray the image you want or just the picture you had? It’s time for you to spend a little time (and money!) and come up with a consistent, well thought out brand presentation.
Why Looks Matter
Again, using our friend as an example, had he approached me with a less than favorable appearance I would have been less inclined to give him money, sorry that’s just the truth. The same goes for the quality of your business presentation. It must be professional and consistent with the image your trying to portray. If your asking someone to do something whether it be buying a product from you, or giving you their information, the presentation that you make needs to reflect a quality consistent message. Having a Website that looks one way, a blog that’s another and a default Twitter page just isn’t going to cut it in today’s business environment. Like it or not people make a decision on your brand based on their interaction online. And that judgment is made in milliseconds.
Be Specific About What You Want
Just like our friend, be clear about what your asking your customers to do online. Do you want them to buy something, input their information or call for a quote, whatever it is be clear about what action you want them to take. Our friend was asking for $16 specifically. A very good tactic. He could have said, do you have any spare money or hey can I get $20. Instead he asked for $16 which is both unique and specific.
You Must Tell A Story
Storytelling is one of the primary skills that you will need to develop in order to be a successful entrepreneur. Now unlike my friend you shouldn’t craft a false story, however you do need to have one. People learn from storytelling. Don’t tell me all the facts in bullet points or marketing speak about your product or service. Tell me a story. For instance, how did you develop it? What will it do for me as a customer? What has it done for others who have used your product? When you tell a good story people can relate and if your good they will also remember the facts that you want to promote.
Now many of these things may be obvious, perhaps you know to do them all, but the question is are you? Are you disciplined enough to have a good brand presentation, ask for the sale and tell a story? If not now is the time to start. Which one of these do you find the hardest to do? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss.
One other thing, in no way am I trying to make light of those less fortunate. I was truly impressed by the effort and professionalism that our friend put into his presentation. No doubt in a regular economy he would be employed. I’m sure he was just down on his luck.
