Janet Jackson And The Integrity Of Your Personal Brand
The big news this month was the Super Bowl halftime show. Featuring the antics of MTV music stars, the world watched in dismay as Janet Jackson bared her breast for a little PR - much to the horror of families across the world. This was a calculated stunt to boost the future record sales of a falling star. Unfortunately for Janet, it backfired miserably.
As I listened to the debate and commentary surrounding this incident, I wondered what lessons we can pull out of this situation. I thought to myself that in a single instant, Janet Jackson accomplished a couple of things, mainly tarnishing her own reputation, that of the NFL, and CBS. Additionally, she will now be known for the most denegrating halftime show in Super Bowl history - basically erasing her previous accomplishments as a performer.
So how does this relate to sales, you wonder? As salespeople, all we have is our personal brand. Everyday we work hard to build our reputation, integrity, and relationships with our customers. Often times, we are under extreme pressure to hit a bigger number, grow our sales, and "take it to the next level". Under these circumstances, it is often easy to do something that is "out of integrity". A simple example of this is selling someone something they don't need. Sometimes it is something bigger than this. Whatever it may be, we need to remember that our reputation is all that we have, and it is uniquely tied to our integrity as sales people. Remember that your personal brand is all you have - do whatever it takes to build and protect it!
Happy selling!