Craig Rentmeester's Blog

Personal Branding Lessons from an Experienced Brand Builder

Personal Branding Magazine issue 3 is now available. For issue 3, I interviewed John Purdy of the Kendall Purdy Group.

The article tells his story of leaving the Ad Agency he'd worked at for over 20 years to become a one-man consulting firm.

My article, featured on PDF page 25/magazine page 19, is below.

Enjoy.

Personal Branding Advice from an Experienced Brand Builder

By Craig Rentmeester

Freelance consulting is considered to be the ultimate reward in personal branding by many professionals. It signifies you’ve reached a point in your career where people recognize your brand and value your opinions.

To gain perspective on consulting and personal branding I caught up with John Purdy. With over 30 years of marketing experience on both the agency and corporate side, Purdy is a thought leader when it comes to brand building. For the past nine years he has helped his clients grow their brands on a freelance basis through his consultancy, the Kendall Purdy Group.

Striking Out (on His Own)
The decision to go into freelance consulting brings both freedom and uncertainty. It allows professionals a chance to take on projects they’ll enjoy while setting their own work pace. However, it also brings an unstable income and less job security. When asked about the decision to go into this line of work Purdy responded,

“I started consulting when my agency client fired the agency in favor of an agency with a more extensive international network. As (it) often happens in the (advertising) agency world, my job was eliminated when the income from that large client ceased. The client who left the agency still valued my counsel in their business and contracted for a portion of my time if I chose to consult. That was sufficient incentive to establish a consultancy, with that client as a base.”

 
Choosing a Brand
The Kendall Purdy Group is a unique choice for a freelance consultant’s brand. When asked why he decided on that Purdy said, “…I developed a list of possible names that had probably 20 options to choose from. There were logical and descriptive names, benefit-focused names, fanciful names and others. I reviewed the list of names with friends and the clear winner was the Kendall Purdy Group. “

Purdy said it was the clear choice because, “It sounded as though I wasn't all by myself, which I was. It sounded dignified and professional, which it wasn’t particularly…and it was vague enough not to pigeonhole me in any one discipline or area of consulting.”

John Purdy had two things at this point; a client to stabilize his business, and a brand to manage and grow. But, the key to running to a successful business is a consistent customer base.

Getting Customers
When asked about how he normally gains business, Purdy said, “Ninety-five percent of my business comes from referrals -- from people I know in the business who either hire me themselves or recommend me to others…My network has been the only dependable source of business over the nine years of consulting.”

Tricky Situations
Purdy also went on to mention how he is put into peculiar situations. He mentioned how he sometimes competes against advertising agency’s he consulted for and consulting for two businesses that directly compete with one another.

“I always try to be upfront about the organizations I have worked with and (let clients know) that I cannot disclose anything that is considered proprietary information,“ says Purdy.

“Honesty is the best policy in consulting,” says Purdy.

 

Yoonew - A Game Changing Company

I recently heard about Yoonew, a company that essentially runs an open market for sporting event tickets. 

How Yoonew Works
At Yoonew, fans can bet that their team will make it to the championship game.  (i.e. the Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series, etc.).

If the team that the fan bets on make it to the championship, the fan receives a ticket (or many tickets, depending on the bet) to that sporting event for the price that they locked in earlier in the season. If the team doesn't make it, the fan loses the initial amount.

Yoonew uses the losers' money to purchase tickets for winning bidders --and brings in revenue through transaction fees.

The company claims they've never failed to deliver a ticket to a winning bidder.

Why Yoonew is interesting
Yoonew allows fanatics with extra cash (and a knack for gambling) the opportunity to get tickets for well under face value.

With Super Bowl XLII this week, and tickets reselling for $4,300 on average,  Yoonew seems to have found a niche that will certainly be around for a while.

More on Yoonew
Read more about Yoonew at TechCrunch, The Boston Herald and Fast Company.

Black Friday - A penny saved is a penny earned

Black Friday is one of the strangest days of the year. Millions of people flock to stores, leaving somewhat disappointed (the items are sold out, need to get a rain check, have to wait in line for hours, etc.)

Overall though, most customers are satisfied. 

After all, a penny saved is a penny earned.

My Story
At Kohl's today, there were people lined up around the entire store waiting to check out. I left. 50 percent is only 10 dollars after all. However, most people stayed.

Rather than acting like me, most people plan ahead. They bring friends and family -- which does two things.

1. For Shoppers
It allows shoppers to put someone in line to hold their spot.

2. For Retailers
It allows more eyes to gander at the savings, allowing for more additional purchases.

Could retailers open more lines? Yes.

However, waiting is part of the game. It's an experience. A story.

To some, it's ridiculous. To others, Black Friday is a holiday in itself; a journey to find the right gifts at the lowest prices.

The equation that retailers continually try to satisfy is the right balance between allowed annoyance and delivering the advertised specials. How much of a discount is the right incentive to gain visitors and cause some "incidental", yet expected pain?

Take money to the bank, not percents

A former boss once told me, "You can't take percentages to the bank. You take dollars and cents to the bank."

This is a great saying.

Rather than having to rationalize each purchase as a percentage of the yearly budget, it allows for gray area, discussion and creativity.

With this statement in mind, I was able to think about relationships with customers rather than having to protect margins on individual sales. It also allowed me to take more risks, make more mistakes and learn more about our customers.

In business, many people measure things using percentages. It's done for many reasons -- simplicity, comparison, protection of profits, etc.  However, percentages usually come with assumptions. I am not saying to avoid percentages at all costs, just realize any assumptions that are built into the percentages.

I remember this saying and think about it when someone mentions  things like budgets, pricing, and promotions.

Celebrities and Personal Branding

One key element to personal branding is knowing your own personal traits, skills and accomplishments. Once you've done that self assessment, you need to leverage that package into something that can create opportunities and revenue for yourself.

Celebrities do this extremely well.

Here is a small list of celebrities that have leveraged their traits, skills and accomplishments (lets not forgot fame) into something of monetary value to themselves.

Peyton Manning. He's a record holder (most TD passes in a season, passer rating, passes completed, etc.), a winner (Superbowl XLI), and a man with strong character (no suspensions or arrests and strong community involvement).

He's leveraged this into many endorsement deals including Reebok, Gatorade, DirecTV, Sprint, etc.

Tiger Woods. He's a winner (13 majors), he's humble (doesn't talk trash), and has a great story (Dad was a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant, of mixed descent, began playing golf extremely young, etc.).

He's leveraged this into many endorsement deals including Nike, Buick, American Express, Accenture, etc.

What if you aren't naturally gifted like these athletes?

Kathy Griffin ("My Life on the D List" won an Emmy Award)
She's not the funniest person, nor the prettiest, but she faced the facts and grew her personal brand in spite of those obstacles that many celebrities face.

There are plenty of other celebrities that understand personal branding and playing to their own strengths.

The question is not, how can I become like Kathy Griffin?

Society already has a Kathy Griffin. She fills that niche and plays to her audience well. 

The question is, how can I learn from these examples to further my brand?

If you can, you'll be rewarded with better opportunities and wealth from doing so.

Employee relations gone public; part two

In case you haven't seen a U.S. news site today, GM has a crisis on its hands. Not only does General Motors have to deal with over 73,000 disgruntled employees, but it has to deal with countless media inquiries.

In case you're wondering what caused the strike was caused by, here is an excerpt from the story filed by CNN.

Gettelfinger said the union was ready to discuss the company's key bargaining goal of shifting an estimated $51 billion in healthcare expenses for retirees and their family members to union-controlled trust funds. But he said that other issues had derailed hopes of an agreement.

The union president said he was looking for assurances from the company about the job security of UAW members. He said he wanted guarantees about how much GM would invest in U.S. plants and about how many new vehicles would be built in the United States.

It'll be interesting to see how GM handles this with both the media and its employees, and how long it stays in the news.

Sometimes you have to Ask

Yesterday, I had a plumber (Bob's Sewer Service Inc.) come to my house to unclog a drain. My landlord explicitly said that he'd like it to cost under $100, and if was going to cost more to call him. Understandable.

When the plumber came, it took him less than thirty minutes to determine the problem, figure out a solution and be on his way. I was impressed. The cost -- $75.

All was well -- It was quick, relatively cheap, and a minor inconvenience.

After the plumber cleaned up his tools, we chatted for a little about ourselves to one another and developed a meaningless relationship -- for me. To be honest, I didn't really care how long he'd been a plumber, if he had plans for the weekend, or what he thought about the Vikings this season. My only objective in the whole interaction was to get the drain fixed and be on my way as fast possible.

However, he could have leveraged my situation (recent graduate, renter, my network of other current students/recent graduates that are renting, soon to be homeowner) to build referrals for his business.

However, he left without leaving behind any marketing collateral.

You may be wandering, what is the point?

The Big Deal: Referrals. They are a large part of marketing. Businesses incur extra customer service costs to keep customers happy so they'll use their service and tell their friends to do so as well. Talk and conversation play a very important role in deciding which businesses get called and which ones don't. The next time you're in a situation where you've met the customer's expectations (trial and error detection), ask them to tell their friends, or leave them information to make it easier to tell their friends.

Solving Problems or Diffusing Problems

Businesses make mistakes. Whether it is a cable installer not showing up for their appointment or a construction company that doesn’t meet the deadline they promised, it’s not how a company arrives at a problem that determines their brand, it’s how the organization deals with it.

As with many things, the value placed on customer service varies from person to person. However, people know about companies with bad customer service.

This (reputation) happens because a business problem that turns into a customer service failure leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. It doesn’t live up to expectations, thereby deflating trust in the relationship.

So my question to customer service managers is are you diffusing problems, a.k.a. getting the person to go away, or are you solving problems, a.k.a. finding a workable solution that both parties agree upon?

Customer service issues are opportunities to strengthen brand loyalty, if they’re dealt with correctly in the eyes of the customer.

Customer Service in action; Print Place shines

Late Friday afternoon (3:30 - 4:00pm) I was ordering brochures. I placed the order online and then submitted my artwork to the Web site by uploading the files.

Then comes the curveball.

Rather than being able to view my proofs online, both front and back, I was only able to see one side. So, I called a customer service representative. I actually spoke with this same representative beforehand, to ask about the ordering and artwork submission process. During my second call, she mentioned that they were having problems with the electronic proofs.

She assured me that the problem would be resolved, but she didn't know when. Since I could wait until Monday, I stopped worrying about the problem, trusting that it would be corrected by then. It turns out, not only did the problem get corrected, but the same customer service representative followed up via e-mail on Saturday afternoon. So, if I did need the brochures soon, I could have quickly reviewed the proofs and sent them to press.

I'd like to give a tip of my hat to the customer service team at PrintPlace.

Many companies would have sent out a mass e-mail to everyone that had ordered after a certain time. Not this employee, nor this company. She took it upon herself to follow through, with a personalized e-mail, to a customer with whom she'd work with earlier. As a display of gratitude, I sent her a personal e-mail saying thanks.

Now, I have a relationship with her and her company. The next time I need printing done, there is no choice. It's already made.

If you need printing done, I'd recommend PrintPlace. There prices are the lowest I have seen, they don't gauge you on shipping and they have, in my eyes, great customer service. If you're worried about quality, request a sample pack. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

B2B sales. What are you selling? Features or Benefits

In most situations, you have a limited window of time to make a first impression. It may be grabbing an audience's attention, representing a brand through personal appearance, or displaying confidence with good, firm handshake at an interview. Once this initial moment has passed, it's time to sell. Whether it's a product, service or yourself, you need to be selling. The approach may change, but the goal stays the same, for the most part.

When doing sales or marketing B2B, the sales approach is slightly different than with consumer products. Most consumer products to gain distribution, do creative, reach people willing to hear the message and repeat. (obviously there is more to it than that, but  I didn't want to drag on).   

When dealing with other businesses, using general business benefits (lower costs, more stability, faster time to market) to sell a product or service is a good start. However, it can be even more effective when catered to a particular business' needs. It shows an understanding of their business, thereby building credibility and trust.

My suggestion is to target your best customers and cater presentations, sales literature and leave behinds specifically for those companies. It may be time consuming, but the business will likely take you more seriously and feel comfortable working with you, even though your price isn't the lowest and your customer service isn't as good as it could be. 

Using the same sales brochures for every customer shows that your fiscally responsible and consider every potential customer to be on the same playing field. That is not the case. Large contracts, purchases and agreements, take large effort.

The Fine Line of Self Promotion and Personal Branding

The ability, and need, for personal branding has taken off more than ever, because of the Internet. This has happened because it's free. Start a blog, make a LinkedIn profile, etc. The cost to promote yourself has reached a price that everyone can afford.

With personal branding comes the question of personal ethics. Do you exaggerate accomplishments by a group that you were part of, when you didn't play a role in the actual forming or executing of the idea? Do you say expert in Microsoft Excel when you don't know how to do anything except enter numbers into a spreadsheet?

In terms of getting exposure, how far do you or an organization you work for go to get exposure, build links and increase page rankings? Do you go as far as to create a Wikipedia page about yourself? Do you start a journal (blog) that is written to be read by you, just to help out the "googlability" of your name?

My Take
I think personal branding is important, in limited ways. Overextending yourself can be harmful, especially if the information posted about you is incorrect. Plus, the more exposure you get online, the more work it is to keep up to date.

If you like reading blogs, I would suggest starting one yourself. It's a great experiment. You'll learn about widgets, googlability, and the power of linking, among many other things.

In terms of blogging, I would recommend focusing on something you enjoy reading and writing about, but necessarily a passion of yours. If you really enjoy skiing, it may not be wise to start a blog about it, because it may start to feel like a job. For me, the last thing I would want to do is have a hobby that I love start to feel like work.

Tip: If you're looking to get hired in the near future, I'd recommend starting a blog with your name in the URL. I had multiple employers search my name during my job search and comment about this blog.

By the way, you shouldn't even list the group if you didn't play a role, and you're not an Excel expert.

Landing a job online; Job hunting tips and resources

Most job hunters these days use the Internet to find job openings. Guy Kawasaki had an interesting post today about his experience posting and filling a job opening on Craigslist.

Since I recently completed the post-college job search, I thought that I'd share a few tips and resources.

For local jobs
Apply online and then stop in their office either the same day or the following day. This works well if you know the contact person for the job opening. It allows you to hand in a paper copy of you resume, cover letter, work examples, transcripts, etc. Also, it allows you to see the company's culture by the dress, decor and the way the company presents itself to visitors.

For out of area or out of state jobs
Set up interviews, meetings, or even informational interviews prior to your visit or relocation. Also, try to include both a permanent and temporary (local) address. Or, just provide a local address. A company may be looking to hire someone locally and disregard out-of-state candidates; it's less coordination, hassle, and expense on their end.

You should always
Dress at least one "level" more formal than the employees at the company. For example, if employees wear jeans on Fridays, you should wear slacks. If the employees wear collared, button down shirts with no ties, wear a tie. And so on and so on. There are exceptions to this rule, but this is a good general rule to follow.

Write a thank you or follow up e-mail whenever someone contacts you. Not only does this help establish rapport, it also helps to let them know you're serious about the position.

Job sites to consider using

College recruiting office or Web site - Very targeted for recent graduates, seniors and juniors. Not a lot of weeding through jobs that require 3-5 years experience.
Craigslist - A lot of junk postings to weed through, but there are some hidden gems.
Local Newspaper(s) - usually free access online. Targeted locally. Great starting point for out for out of state jobs.
Yahoo! Hot Jobs - Large, but not as many jobs as CareerBuilder or Monster.
Monster - Huge. A lot of third-party recruiters.
CareerBuilder - Very Large. Basically the same as Monster.
LinkedIn - mostly intended for people at the middle management level. Create a profile. It's free and helps to build your personal brand.
Doostang - Invite only social network. You must be a member with 20+ friends. E-mail me for an invitation. Functions similarly to LinkedIn once you're a member.
Indeed - jobs from more than 5,000 sources and provides RSS feeds for any job search query.

Thanks to Jason for submitting Indeed.

I recommend setting up RSS feeds for any job site possible. Then, aggregate them to a service like Google Reader, or use live bookmarks. This saves time entering the same criteria day after day.

If anyone has any other job sites that they found to be useful, please post them to the comments and I will surely add them to the list.

Creating Customer Value

A big thing in business is creating customer value. I used to work for a company that used the phrase "customer profit"; the customer leaves feeling as though they got more from the business than the business got from them (product, experience, service vs. money).

Example: Having a "3 Star" hotel that delivers a "4 Star" experience.

This doesn't always have to be monetary though. A customer can also exchange things like time, attention and a referral.

There are plenty of other ways to provide value. It usually deals with expectations versus actual experience.

Here are some tactics where no money can exchange hands but value can be delivered:

Trade Shows
Job Fairs
Sales Presentations
Web sites
Online Press Rooms

The Remarkability of Small Business

Small businesses usually have an advantage versus big box retailers, franchises and corporations because they can tell a more personal story.

The Big Deal: The more a consumer knows about a business, the more he or she can talk about that business in their day-to-day conversation.

What resources (literature, people, forums, events) do you have available for a customer that wants to be an evangelist for your organization?

Future Internet Adoption Rates

Today, I decided to do some research into what the Earth's Internet user makeup will be in the future.
Here is an article I read on Clickz that was posted a few weeks back (June 26, 2007). Below are some highlights from the article. (statistics in the article were provided by JupiterResearch).

The Highlights:
Right now, 1.1 billion people have regular access to the Internet. By 2011, 1.5 billion people will have regular access to the web.
China and India will grow the most in terms of Internet adoption rates by 2011.
17 percent of China will be online in 2011.
7 percent of India will be online in 2011.
22 percent of the Earth will surf the web regularly in 2011.
42 percent of the Earth's Internet users will be located in Asia in 2011.

What these statistics suggest is that now is the time to invest in Internet-based companies that can market products in these growing markets. E-commerce will be slower to adopt than general internet surfing. But, if a company can establish a brand and work out any service errors before the market truly comes, they'll be positioned perfectly to take off when the large growth occurs.

The thing to remember, especially with China and India, is that wealth is not distributed equally. Also,  just because there is a huge number of people, doesn't mean there is a huge market for your product.
That being said, it's likely that the first people using the Internet in those countries will be from a wealthier class, with more education and more purchasing power than their fellow countrymen and women.