Charlie Brown Branding and Memorability

Are you memorable? Are your prospects able to differentiate you from the masses of salespeople who  storm their gates each day? Will your prospects and clients see you in a unique light, clearly understanding the value that you offer them? It is clear that we must not only offer a distinct value, but our clients must know and remember us as we want to be remembered. We must learn to project the image that we desire others to see and know us by. 

Once again, this issue falls back on the distinctiveness of our personal brand. Our brand must not only be visible above the horizon of all of your competitors, it must too have sticking power, the ability to be remembered. We must establish and maintain both a clear image of who were are and exactly what we do, and do it in a way that our prospects never forget.

Next week, I have an appointment with a man named Charlie Brown. Though I have never met Charlie in person, I have spoken with him on several occasions via telephone. He is distinctly Charlie, not Charles, Chas or Chuck. If I were Charlie, I would always be wearing my trademark tan short-sleeve shirt with the black zig-zag stripe across the middle. What a great name and image to leverage. After all, everybody loves Charlie Brown! Everybody wants to see him win too.

I have a friend that always wears a bow tie when the occasion calls for a neck tie. That look works for him and everyone knows who he is. A salesman I know always carries candy suckers with him and freely distributes them throughout the day. My family doctor's reputation for kindness and compassion has spread to such a point that is now difficult to get timely appointments to see him. A marketing professional went from obscurity to fame in a few short years chiefly because of his successful blog and speaking tours. A sales expert is well-known for leveraging her ability to sell to large companies. I also know a guy that is famous for simply wearing a nametag all of the time!

Discover your uniqueness. Leverage your talents. Create an identity. Be bold. Whether it be by your voice, your looks, your clothes, your name, your style or whatever; become memorable. Your brand will quickly become sticky and the market will be yours! 

...........................
Daniel Sitter
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Comments

[Jason Jacobsohn]

I completely agree. Personal branding is so important to building relationships, which can ultimately lead to more sales. While networking, you need to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Otherwise, you will be lost in the mix. You can brand yourself not only physically but also intellectually. For example, you can wear your own personalized nametag at every event. After awhile people will remember you for that. I know a guy who wears a scrolling marquee nametag. While it may be over the top, I remember him. Another important branding technique is to become a subject matter expert on a topic of interest. Once people know that you are this expert, they will remember you and come to you when they need your expertise.

[Daniel Sitter]

Thanks Jason. Establishing your credibility is a huge component of personal branding.

[Rich Minx]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for the nice comments you left on my site. Now I've found your site and it's great! I'm adding it to my feed and then I'll read some more.

This post on branding is relevant to what you mentioned on my site about identity. I'm experimenting with creating a 'Rich Minx' brand and so far it seems to be working (judging by my small-but-growing search referral stats so far).

PS. While branding is important, sharing the name of a famous person/character would be very irksome, I think. Charlie was constantly shown up by Snoopy! Have you seen the 'Michael Bolton' character in the film Office Space?

[Daniel Sitter]

Thanks for your comments Shano. You're right, sharing a famous name might have both quirks as well as perks!

[Shane]

Personal branding is so important. I have friends who, when I'm looking for them in a crowd, I can't find them. I have other friends who you could spot instantly in a stadium full of people. The second group is more successful.

Say hi to Snoopy for me!

[Daniel Sitter]

You are right Shane, standing out is far better!

[brad shorr]

This is such great advice, Daniel. Seems like most companies and many sales people want to "play it safe", settle for the happy medium. I worked with a very successful rep who, among other things, used funny PowerPoint presentations and always a denim shirt. People always remembered him in a positive way. His customers were much more loyal than was average for our selling team.