Justin Bieber and sales have a lot in common.
Yes, you read that correctly.
I know you’re scratching your head on that statement. Let me give you some context and then hopefully connect a few dots along the way.
I have been a huge Justin fan since middle school, only growing in my infatuation with him as I grow older. This is not a unique persona by any means, I’m confident every teen girl in America loved Justin Bieber when he first came on to the scene. Fast forward to now, I’m a 24-year-old woman who is still obsessed with the popstar… Ok, maybe I’m a little weird, but humor me.
Now my intrigue with Bieber is not just because of his looks or his music, but his brand.
In the past couple years, he’s developed his own clothing line called “Drew House”. These clothes are nothing special, just a plain colored shirt or sweatshirt with a classic, yellow smiley face and “Drew” stamped on it. It may sound simplistic, or maybe even ugly, but new drops of merchandise literally sell out in seconds. That’s no joke! I may or may not own a few pieces. I plead the 5th. But it begs the question - what makes such a lack-luster product so enticing to buy, especially at an OUTRAGEOUS price. Seriously - we’re talking $150 for a sweatshirt?!?
My answer: The person behind the brand.
I have learned a whole lot about sales in the last year. I have learned that sales is nothing without marketing, and marketing is nothing without sales. At it’s most simple form, a sale is determined by the interaction between two parties - but the reputation of each party says many things before any words are even spoken. I used to think the prospects I call everyday were automatically turned off by my “brand” as a cold caller. The more I call, though, Im realizing that I am also judging my prospects by their brand. Quick judgements like, “What does their LinkedIn profile say about them? Should their profile picture tell a story? Are they going to want to talk to me?” With this hyper-analyzation, it’s pretty easy to freak myself out before even dialing the phone.
OK – so that seems like two completely random thoughts, right?
Here’s where these two seemingly unrelated ideas come together for me. My understanding of Justin Bieber’s clothing brand tells me that reputation matters. If Justin Bieber was not incredibly famous musician, he would not be selling a simple product for such a ludicrous price. On a transactional level in sales, reputation matters. In a positive way, the Bieb’s reputation carries a significant weight in the sales process for Drew House clothing.
But reputations can also be a little intimidating… especially when it’s not just a transactional sale, but a person-to-person engagement. As I prep for cold-calling prospects my first introduction to them is often seeing a list of prestigious accomplishments on their LinkedIn page. Everyone puts their best foot forward on social media, right? But then I also wonder, are they going to look me up too? Does my online reputation communicate well in a way that people will trust me?
It is all about personal branding – theirs, mine, Biebers, yours... Creating a consistent reputation in your personal branding brings value and trust to the sales process.
While I may occasionally freak myself out at the cold calling process, I’ve developed confidence in my own brand as well as the brand reputations of my company and the organizations we represent. Just like Bieber, the person behind the brand matters!
As important as a personal brand is, it’s also important that companies have a consistent and trustworthy reputation. I’ve been reflecting on my time with People at Your Service (PAYS) and the experience and learning I’ve gained during this season. At PAYS we do innovative omnichannel outreach that is impactful to our clients’ business. That is the true description of the work we do, but the reality is that what makes PAYS an attractive business to work with or work for is much more than that.. It’s our brand. It is our reputation. It’s the way we’ve developed consistency and trust that bring credibility to our employees and our customers alike.
At PAYS, we’re actually trying to live out our name – to truly be people of service.
So what does that actually mean? It means that we go out of our way to genuinely care about our clients. We take the time to get to know the stories and values of the organizations we represent. We’re regularly asking how we can do things better for our clients (and our staff). We go above and beyond for our clients; we do not stop at the bare minimum asked of us.
Working at PAYS and with Steve King as our leader in this adventure has taught me to care about people. I now know that to work in sales you do not have to have a “shark” mentality, you actually just need to care deeply about others. I’ve learned that caring deeply will quickly create a reputation that stands out among the crowd. I may not be selling crazy expensive sweatshirts, but I’m developing a personal brand of consistency and trust with each call I make, each email I send, and each appointment I set for our clients and that’s been worth it.
Monica Touby Revenue Generation Specialist Lifelong Bieber Fangirl