Remember, In Business, You Are The Brand

A lot of new business owners make the mistake of thinking that they are simply selling a product or a service to their clients or customers. But this isn’t true. If you don’t believe that, just look at the evidence. Various studies and polls have shown that a user online is more likely to click on a company if there is a picture of the owner of the business. It makes them roughly 80% more likely to click! What does this tell us? Simply put, clients are interested in the person behind the brand rather than just what they are selling. That’s important because if you don’t understand this concept and your competition does it can quickly give them the edge over your business.

Don’t forget, it’s not just about impressing your customers or clients. You need to make sure that investors love who you are and what your business can offer as well and of course your employees. You need to make sure that candidates are interested in signing up for your business too. In total then, you’ve got three different groups of individuals who must be impressed by what you are offering in your company. How do you do this?

The Right Qualifications

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The first step, often before you even open your business is to make sure that you have the right degrees and qualifications in hand. You’ve probably heard that you can start a business without any qualifications or degrees at all and yes, you can do this. There are various reports of individuals who have dropped out of college before successfully starting and running their own company. But you must understand that these individuals are not the rule they are the exception. As well as this, while it’s easy to get a business set up without the qualifications, keeping it running is a great deal more difficult.

Why is this? It’s not that you necessarily don’t have the right level of knowledge although that could certainly play a part. It’s quite possible that you simply do not have the information you need on how to run a business and how to keep it afloat.

Even if this does come naturally to you, investors aren’t going to accept that. They want proof that they can trust you to run the company and run it well. Otherwise, you will need to hire someone who is able to fill this requirement. These days, qualifications come in all different forms. A qualification like an Online MBA can provide the knowledge you need and the degree in hand that investors do want to see when they inject money into your model.

While you may assume that your training is over once your business is up and running, it’s always best to pursue further education, gaining more knowledge and insight into how a business should be run.

A Wealth Of Experience

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You don’t want to be too green when you run your business, and we’re not talking about levels of energy efficiency. Nope, in this case, we mean your levels of experience on the market. Most experts recommend that before you start a company, you do spend at least a few years on the market in positions that provide you with experience working in the field. Is it impressive or foolish to start a business with nothing on your resume? This will depend on who you speak to. But by having a solid career filled with various positions and evidence that you have worked your way to where you are, you can show customers they are right to trust in you.

If you don’t have any experience, then you do need to make sure that you hire the support of a consultant. Experts in a specific area of business, consultants, can provide the advice you need and often will make sure that you have someone in the room with a few years under their built. Although, typically clients won’t know this so this won’t help your personal image.

Perfecting Your People Skills

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Usually, as the business owner, it will be your job to reach out and get the biggest clients or investors in your business. As your company grows, you can hire a full team of outreach specialists to handle this area of your company. But for now, it’s all on you.

This means that you need to know how to impress the people who you are meeting and make them feel completely comfortable with the service you offer. This is another example of how training and qualifications can be important. On business leadership courses, they won’t just teach you how to run a company. Instead, they’ll delve into how you take control of the room and how to assert high levels of confidence. This can be everything from your body language to the simple matter of the right handshake. Perceptively, people often see those with weak handshakes to have low levels of confidence while firmer grips are linked to linked with powerful individuals who you can trust. Eye contact is important too, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. Usually, you will only have five minutes to impress a new client or investor. You have to approach this the right way.

If you can’t handle this role in your business, you do need to make sure that you are hiring a figurehead who looks great and will essentially act as a go-between.

Getting Social

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Finally, do make sure that you are utilizing social media in your business. That’s an easy way to make sure that you are open and accessible for everyone who wants to find more about you and your business. A lot of business owners have expressed their interest at quitting social media like Twitter due to the issues currently plaguing the network. However, currently, they are unable to due to the massive level of promotion that they would be missing out on.

With Twitter, Facebook or Instagram you can provide a window into who you are and what you can offer with your company. You can show the individual behind the brand, and that’s exactly what customers, clients, and employees want to see when they associate with your company.