As a small business owner, you must sell yourself just as much as you must sell your company. Too many start ups tend to forget this, and too often their businesses falter. You may be wondering what the importance of selling yourself really is. It’s your company that matters, right? Well, the answer is both yes and no. While your company is the main priority, you must be the second.
You Are Your Business
You see, people naturally associate you with your business. You are the fact of your business, and this becomes even more prominent in terms of small businesses where you have very real interaction with all of your customers. People expect you to behave, to be hard working and polite, to be completely above reproach. It is your position as a business owner which makes your customers demand this sort of behavior.
Look at this way. If a person is running a company they have the most authority over that company. If this person is hard working, ethical, creative, professional, polite, and has high morals, you would assume that these traits would transfer to this person’s company. This would mean that the general public assumes you have a great company which will create great products, carry out effective services, and offer a superb shopping environment- whether online or off.
If the general public sees you as a person is immature, rude, lazy, unethical, and otherwise unprofessional, they will assume your company reflects this. No one wants to shop at a place like that.
How To Sell Yourself
Selling yourself is actually a great way to help increase your quality of life. It sounds strange, but it’s very true. When you work hard at bettering yourself for your company, all other aspects of your life will become more positive as well. Most importantly for your current purposes, it will increase the positive image people associate with your business.
So how do you sell yourself? You simply act in the most mature, professional way possible. Here are a few tips on what you should and should not do in order to best sell yourself in a way which will represent your company in a positive fashion:
- Avoid excessive drinking in public. There is nothing more unprofessional than being caught falling down drunk.
- Always think about what you say. Words said in anger can easily come back to bite you, especially if those words were to a customer or employee.
- Be kind and polite to everyone. Not only does this look good for your company, but it’s the right thing to do in general.
- Be helpful and generous. There is nothing more memorable for a person than receiving generous help when they need it the most.
- Dress in a professional manner. You should be decently covered, clean, and tidy at all times you are in public.
- Do not lie, cheat, or steal. These things can sink your reputation quickly.
- Treat others as you would be treated. Everyone has heard this saying a thousand times, but if you aren’t already practicing it now is the time to do.
Conclusion
Selling yourself is an important aspect of any business. The way you present yourself will reflect the way people view your company, whether for good or bad. The best way to ensure your personal actions do not come back to haunt your company is to present yourself in a professional, mature, ethical manner . Utilizing these few simple tips can help to get you off to a really great start. From there, all other aspects of your life should naturally fall into place and your company can began reaping the benefits.
