Maverick Mastery®

In this Century we are faced with a sceptical buying audience especially when our services are high end, high value. This means we are faced with some choices; we can reduce our prices, alter our business offerings or find a way to be ‘attractive’ to our potential customers – a way where they find us for our services rather than we spend our time looking for them to buy.

In this day and age these can be tough choices.

If you choose to keep your prices and business offerings the same then you need to ensure that your potential clients see you as ‘attractive’. Being ‘attractive’ to our customers begins with ensuring that you have a business proposition that is clear and understandable. If you have more than one business proposition then you need to ensure that you only describe or explain your proposition to the right audience at the right time, and increasingly on the right online network. Unless you are speaking to your inner network describing all your propositions will be seen as confusing and condemn you as a generalist. Only very few generalists with high end, high value services are bought these days. Our sceptical buyers want to buy from ‘the’ expert. It provides a comfort factor and is more likely to reduce any potential buyer’s remorse. Below I have outlined two must do things that you need to achieve to ensure that potential clients buy your services.

How to have a winning proposition

There are a number of things that you need to do to ensure that your proposition has a chance in standing out. These include the following:

v  Be sure of what it is that you have to offer. This may sound like an obvious statement but I have found that clients who start my business accelerator session (whether they have just started up in business or who have been in business for a long time) can often miss exactly what it is that makes their business special and the magic ingredient that they bring to it. This is more than having a Unique Selling Proposition, this is about knowing the deep roots of your business and what it is that you bring to your clients that no one else can.

What is it that you bring to your business that makes it sing?

v  Get back to basics or first principles. When you have been running a business for awhile it is easy for you to divert away from your core proposition or to confuse your offering with industry jargon. A lot of business people first had a career in corporate land and then unwittingly use the same language when they describe their services. This doesn’t really work unless you have a well known brand and have been able to spend the time educating your potential audience on what you have to offer.

What does your service do – in plain compelling English?

v  Ensure that your offering has a market. It is very easy to get swept up in the service that you want to deliver and miss what it is that your customers want to buy. Often your proposition is close to what the market wants and a few people buy – a slight tweak can enable you to have mass appeal.

Listen to what your customers are telling you – and fish where the fish are

v  Learn how to articulate your proposition so that others understand. This is a key crux as to why it is hard to buy your services. One of the best ways to solve this is to work with a mentor that has experience in helping people like you that can solve this conundrum. Another way is to spend time asking your previous clients what they got from your service (there are always pleasant surprises there!), breaking down the core components and then crafting a compelling story that describes your service and how you help your clients.

Ensure that what you do fits your business strategy

Leveraging your reputation

Buying high end, high value, high cost services are considered purchases and in a recession one that a buyer cannot afford to make frivolously.  In which case before they buy your service they will check out your reputation first. Last century a lot of this checking would have been offline with people that you know well and by referencing paid for advertising. This century, offline referencing is still vital but online referencing of your reputation is becoming all important and essential first steps prior to a purchasing decision being made.

The first thing someone does when they are considering buying your services is to check you out on the web. Reputation and credibility is made up of trust, character, competence and track record. It is possible to leverage your reputation but first you must decide what you want to be known for.

What you are known for is essential for people to buy your services.

To leverage your reputation online you should include (amongst other things) the following:

v  Having a Networking Strategy. Your networking strategy should include your strategy for what you are going to do online and offline to integrate your Outer, Middle and Inner networks. You will have clear goals and objectives, and understand the messages that you will be articulating to each group. Demonstrating that you are networking for advocates rather than customers is likely to endear you to your audience. Being able to have cohesive and professional conversations across a number of platforms with diverse people will enhance your reputation as an expert in your field.

v  Having a reputation management strategy. Are you aware of what people are saying about you and your brand? Do you have a strategy in dealing with both supporters and detractors of your message? Are the things that you are doing adding value to your reputation and business?  These amongst others are important questions that your strategy should be answering.

v  Dominate your niche – be the only person considered the best in your niche. Do your online profiles demonstrate your expertise in your chosen field? When you are ‘googled’, what will people find? If people are searching for your expertise are you easily found? To be able to leverage your reputation so that you are ‘attractive’ to your potential customers you need to be seen to dominate your niche. That means using the appropriate Social Media tools in your arsenal and being the only person who other people talk about when discussing your area of expertise. It is a lot easier to do this than you imagine!

v  Have a clear and consistent online/offline message. A great way to destroy reputation is to be inconsistent. People do not trust inconsistency so if you say ‘you help your clients by providing conflict training’ don’t be seen having an online argument with a group of people on an internet forum! You should never assume that something that is said negatively or ‘robustly’ in a private forum will not have an impact on your public persona. In this century your personal and business personas are explicitly linked.

Wondering why it seems so hard for potential clients to buy your services, especially in this climate is a question that is being asked constantly by business people every way. The key to solving this dilemma is to have a clear understanding of what you do and how you add value, providing a clear and consistent message and finally leveraging your reputation as an expert in your field.

Generation Y employees must be granted access to social media tools like Twitter and Facebook in the workplace, as developing work-based relationships online will increase customer confidence, says leadership expert Judith Germain.

The publication of a survey by BT Business reveals that thousands of employees are worried that they will lose clients if they do not get better at using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate with them. Dynamic Transitions’ MD Judith Germain is warning companies to reconsider their restriction policies on the use of social networking sites for business use, or risk losing valuable market share to competitors.

Germain says:

“Companies need to recognise the ease with which these tools can be used to improve customer relationships and to engage with them. Generation Y employees have highly advanced online communication skills developed over years of using social media as part of their daily lives. They have the ability to unlock the potential of social media for the benefit of the business, but only if managers take the lead, set the guidelines, and show them how to harness this talent most effectively.”

“Now more than ever, companies need to devise a social media marketing strategy that encompasses the needs of the employees and the needs of the business. It should be their number one priority as it is only by making a determined move into the 21st century, rethinking the status quo and actively integrating the customer and employee journey, that substantial leaps forward for the business can be made.”

The social media buck should not just be passed to HR says Germain, who is also Vice-President of the BlackStar Life Members Community on popular business networking site Ecademy. “It is not just the HR department’s responsibility to manage social media policies. Marketing, HR and Ops need to find a way of working together to devise an effective social media strategy that can work for the entire business. “

Judith Germain is founder and principle consultant of Dynamic Transitions Ltd, a leadership company specialising in managing Troublesome Talent® and improving leadership performance in companies. For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.

Conducting business in the 21st Century requires a different modus operandi as we increasingly move away from the trading norms of the 20th Century and towards Community Trust Systems™ (CTS). In a society where there are more suppliers than demand, increased scepticism exists and a lack of transparency breeds mistrust – Community Trust Systems™ are becoming a growing necessity for both suppliers and consumers.
Many examples of Community Trust Systems™ already exist to buy and sell products such as Ebay and Amazon and CTS™ for services are now coming into their own (particularly Social Networking sites).

Community Trust Systems™ are where products and services are exchanged on the basis of trust that has been conceived and conferred within a trusted community. Peer review and approval becomes the basis that services are bought and reputation is the determinant for selection.

Designing a networking strategy for Community Trust Systems™

For businesses providing services it is particularly pertinent to be active on social networking sites where businesses are able to integrate into the community, develop a reputation and establish credibility. If your business (and/or yourself) has a good reputation and credibility it is more likely to be trusted by your potential clients, therefore increasing your revenue and sustainability. Community Trust Systems™ require transparency, and the ability of the business to be clear in what they deliver and have an understandable niche. The community members need to be able to trust the networker and be able to advocate their services to others.

A good networking strategy has the following points:

• A holistic strategy designed around business objectives

• Clarity of what the business owner wants to be remembered for – what’s their expertise?

• A clear niche and ability to articulate what the business does

• An offline and online strategy – which networks should you be participating in

• A well structured network

• An understanding of your current reputation and credibility standing in the marketplace

• An ability to leverage time and assess results

When I have worked with clients in designing their networking strategy we have found that their ability to attract advocates and gain results from their networking have exceeded their expectations and has delivered bottom line results. One client saved £7k after one meeting.

The greatest results have come from those that have structured their networking contacts as part of their networking strategy. This allows them to leverage their time and seek a better return on the investment that they have made in the relationships that they have garnered. Referrals are when a contact has made a recommendation that one party meets or does business with another. This is often prompted by a specific request. Advocacy is where an individual, usually unprompted, recommends another with so much detail and influence that the advocated person is not required to sell their services. A good networking strategy enables a business to have many advocates therefore significantly reducing advertising spend.

Structuring your network

To be an effective networker you need to understand who is in your network and what relationship they are to you. For example I have over 10,000 business contacts although I do not know them all individually, I am aware of a vast number of them, refer a great many and advocate a few. Belonging to good social networking sites enables me to manage and maintain conversations with my network, therefore enabling me to extend my reach and help many businesses by making the appropriate connections and providing support where ever possible.

Below is a representation of my network split into three areas:

• Inner Circle – these are my advocates and close contacts. This is a relatively small number

• Middle Circle – these are my main referrers and people that I have conversations with. This number extends into the hundreds.

• Outer Circle – there are people that are aware of my business and what I do personally. Introductions and some referrals take place with these individuals. This number extends into the thousands.

Understanding who is in your network and where – helps to develop how the conversation takes place. ‘Conversation’ in this context means how you interact with them. This includes online messaging, blogs, newsletters, and face to face meetings to name a few.

Structuring your network and how it relates to your networking strategy becomes more pertinent when you consider the following representation of your network.

When designing your networking strategy you need to be aware of how you are remembered by your contacts to ensure that you are not confusing them and they take away the message that you want them to.
For illustrative purposes the second diagram shows how I am generally remembered by my contacts (in terms of business proposition).

My Outer Circle are aware that I specialise with working with Mavericks – the wilfully independent. It is important that when networking your message is clear and easy to remember. This is particularly true online where you may be networking within a Community Trust System.

My Middle Circle understands a number of my business propositions, for example I’m a CEO mentor and Leadership trainer/speaker.

My Inner Circle knows a lot more about me, for example that I come from a strategic senior operations background; I have a solid HR knowledge base and regularly provide expert opinion to the national and trade press.

As people get to know me – I aim to turn my Outer Circle into my Inner Circle etc therefore increasing my reach and ability to have advocates. A more intimate knowledge of their business enables me to help and assist them better also. By understanding my network I am able to engage with them more effectively – perhaps using some automated tools or by regular meetings. This enables me to achieve the other aspects of my networking strategy.

In a saturated and depressed marketplace – where there appears to be many competitors selling the same service or product, having an effective networking strategy enables all businesses’ (but particularly small businesses and consultants) services or products to be advocated, for them to secure more referrals and for the business to cut their marketing costs, increasing their chances of survival.

Generation X employees need to educate unruly generation Y employees on the appropriateness of using social networking sites in light of revelations that employees at Waitrose and Tesco have been publicly posting insulting comments about their customers on social networking site Facebook, says Talent Management specialist Judith Germain.

As Waitrose becomes the latest high street chain to fall victim to the widespread visibility of their disgruntled employees via their unreserved comments on Facebook. Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain believes that Generation Y employees aren’t intentionally trying to tarnish the brand’s reputation, but simply don’t realise the consequences of their actions online, which for many, is an integral part of their day to day lives.

“Whilst Generation X and Baby Boomers know instinctively that conversations in public forums that involve their employers is a bad idea, Generation Y do not have that belief and struggle to understand the effect on their employer’s brand and the consequences that their actions may bring to their careers”, explains Germain, who specialises in managing Troublesome Talent® in the workplace.

Germain believes that employers must act now by educating their Generation Y employees on how to behave appropriately online and by providing ‘safe havens’ for them to express their views and vent frustrations in a controlled environment and away from the public eye, if they want to maintain staff loyalty and customer satisfaction during a particularly difficult trading period.

“Organisations should consider providing a place internally where staff can have ‘conversations’ with each other in a social networking environment which is away from public scrutiny, however, these kind of solutions must be thought through carefully in terms of how they are implemented and how much intervention or moderation they want to provide. The legal implications of getting it wrong can be quite adverse to a business, although getting it right can bring radical results”, adds Germain.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in managing Troublesome Talent®. You can download their free whitepaper ‘Harnessing Maverick Talents’ at www.developing-leadership.com/whitepapers.html For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.

In this day and age it is becoming increasingly important to be able to distinguish yourself from your competition so that you become the ‘no brainer’ choice in your chosen market. Whilst there are many factors that can distinguish you from everyone else, the deciding factor seems to be the strength of your reputation and credibility in relation to your competition. This is especially true for smaller businesses and ‘one man bands’ in over populated niches.

Brand reputation is becoming the ultimate decision maker and to ignore this trend will put your business and earning capacity in peril.

If we agree with the premise that potential clients will only buy high ticket value services from those that they trust, it becomes imperative that businesses consider how to develop, nurture and maintain that trust. The next consideration is to decide how to do this in the most cost effective way for their business.

This may mean foregoing expensive marketing activity that only increases the business’ visibility but does nothing to lessen the risk of hiring the company. This ‘risk’ perceived or otherwise, is continuously assessed by potential clients prior to them making the decision to hire you. The oft quoted maxim of ‘the client needs to be ‘touched’ by you 7 times before they buy’ is derived from this premise.

Lessening the risk of a client hiring you is especially important if the business has decided to use ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ marketing as a strategy for their business. For example, ‘push’ marketing is where the business advertises its services to its target audience, unsure of whether they are looking for their expertise. ‘Pull’ marketing is where the potential client ‘pulls’ your services when he needs it – without specific advertisement. He might decide to use your service based on a referral from an advocate of yours. This means advertising spend has not been made to secure this client.

Those that rely on referrals or social networking to secure work will realise that the most cost effective way to gain new clients is to use ‘pull’ marketing techniques to gain business.

First things first

Before building your reputation in your chosen niche you need to first understand your current position. An audit of your situation should reveal (amongst other things) your standing in relation to your competitors, whether your reputation is earning you enough referrals and whether your business message is coherent across all your markets. It’s important to ensure that your current business strategy (including networking strategy) is consistent with the reputation that you have and are building.

Reputation is personal in its nature, concerning itself with the character of the business (or person) and the intention of its (their) actions. It is essential that you are consistent with what you say and do, especially on the internet where everything that is recorded there is of a permanent nature. Inconsistency can be the biggest killer of reputation because it undermines the trust that is being established between the two parties.

Credibility needs to be demonstrated and is based on your track record and competency. One of the ways to establish credibility is to ensure that your expertise and integrity is demonstrated regularly and effectively. This can be done by providing expert opinion, a positive and strong personal brand, social proofing and having a strong trust account. This allows potential clients to sample your expertise enabling them to advocate your services or hire your business.

If your business (and/or yourself) has a good reputation and credibility it is more likely to be trusted by your potential clients, therefore increasing your revenue and sustainability. A trust account balance reflects the amount of trust in the relationship at any given time. In any one relationship there are two accounts. How we perceive a trusted relationship – say one with a client, may not be the same as they see it. It would be wise to try and understand the balance that is held in each account.

Can social networking help you build reputation and credibility in your business?

It’s important that businesses establish their networking/marketing strategy so that they can decide which social networking sites they should use or maintain a presence on. Social networking sites like Ecademy (www.ecademy.com) can enable businesses to build reputation and credibility for their business quickly. This is particularly true of Ecademy’s Life Membership Community, where building advocacy is made easier due to the nature of its composition. Ecademy encourages its members to network on and offline. Sites like LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) can enable businesses to build visibility and connections quickly. There are hundreds of sites to choose from, so finding a cost and time effective way to utilise them is imperative. Your networking strategy needs to be defined to ensure consistency of your message.

The use of sites such as Ecademy can help businesses establish themselves as an expert in their area of expertise. To establish yourself (or your business) as an expert using social networking sites requires you to be visible to the membership. It is recommended that you blog and write articles frequently, in your area of expertise, run and join clubs structured around your expertise or around your personal interests (thus developing personal reputation). How you communicate and articulate your thoughts on the public and private areas of the networking sites – will guide potential clients and advocates well. Inconsistencies or extreme views contrary to your ‘public persona’ will do you ill and could even prohibit your ability to gain business.

Freely providing advice to others without expectation of a return helps to build your reputation as an expert and provides an informative view on your character. (This is not the same as providing free consultancy!) Participating in one-to-ones to learn how you can help those in your network can be a positive enhancement to both your reputation and credibility. The return on this activity can be immense.

With the credit crunch still impacting most industries, you need to ensure that you focus your energies on delivering a consistent and compelling reason for clients to work with you and a well defined networking strategy will help you to achieve this for very little cash outlay. It is a solid, credible reputation (not just increased visibility) that will carry you and business out of the crunch and beyond. So, look at the way your brand is seen by others and ask yourself…based on the information available about me, would I hire me?

This morning I was taking advantage of the quiet of New Year’s day to browse the Internet. I came across the site Social Mention. The purpose of the site is to show you how often you are mentioned on the Internet.

When you are running a business and have decided that a good business strategy is to employ in part, an ‘attraction policy’ then being mentioned frequently on the internet can be advantageous to your business. How relevant (and accurate) such a tool as Social Mention is, is still to be determined but it does at least let you see where your content is being mentioned on the net, including the comments made by others about you.

According to Social Mention my social rank is 36/100 which means I’m mentioned once every 4 hours. Thomas Power founder of Ecademy Social Rank is 66.14/100 which according to Social mention means that he is mentioned on the Internet once every 30 minutes! Ivan Misner founder of BNI social rank is 26.71/100 which means he is mentioned once every 2hours.

Ivan and Thomas are established and effective offline and online networkers which may explain why they have such impressive Social Ranks. They are also talented and different displaying wilful independence from those that share the same space in the ‘Networking Industry’.

Are they good examples of mavericks that have understood and mastered their Industy specifics? If so should we be trying to follow their example and increase our Social Rank?

Judith Germain – Maverick Comment

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December can be an exciting time for business owners lost in a whirl of networking events and alcohol, often forgetting that this is also the time that their reputation can be damaged, having long term effects on their business.

For many new businesses Christmas Parties are seen as opportunities to let your hair down and fill the order books for the forthcoming year. Unfortunately this type of behaviour can be very damaging as well as disillusioning for business owners.

I would like to share with you the experience of a consultant entrepreneur. For simplicity I’ll call him Sean Rollar although that’s not his real name.

Sean set up his business 3 months ago in a flourish of enthusiasm and hope. However running his own business has been a lot harder than he anticipated and he is yet to secure his first real client. He still has some of his redundancy money left but he knows that he must secure a client by the end of January or he will have to return to corporate life, something that he wants to avoid at all costs.

Sean was looking forward to attending his local Chamber’s Christmas Party, there would be a lot of businesses there that could buy his services and it would be a great opportunity to socialise and enjoy himself after a hard 3 months. Securing a client there would be a great way to round of the year.

He took care to dress well and pack lots of business cards anticipating that out of the 100 people attending he would meet at least 50 of them. Sean practiced his elevator pitch and set off for the party. Arriving at the party was daunting as he didn’t know anyone but he was determined to make his mark.

He bought himself a drink to settle his nerves and strode confidently towards a couple of people talking. After twenty minutes he moved on and spent the rest of the evening chatting and drinking, eventually ending with a turn on the dance floor. After a successful night he returned home calculating that he had given out 40 cards. Sean was looking forward to the next Christmas Party he was attending that night, believing that if he was as successful at that party as the Chamber one he will have no problem filling his order book next year.

That night as he changed for bed he reflected on his experience at the second Christmas Party. He was surprised to see that there were many people there that he had met the night before but they had been very reluctant to talk to him. In fact he received a very strange reception and wondered what had happened to cause his experience to be so different.

Below are three things that Sean could have done which would have had a positive impact on his attendance at the party.

Sean needed to put the Christmas Party in its proper context

Whilst Sean understood that the Christmas Parties may bring work opportunities he did not consider it in the same vein as a work meeting. Having made that decision he did not consider that his actions at the party would or could have an effect on his business reputation. This meant that he did not watch how much alcohol that he had drunk, treating others to a version of himself that he would not present at a formal meeting.

The reason why he was being ignored might have been his boisterous dancing! It is important to remember that wherever your business contacts accumulate your behaviour is on show. People will make a determination on how likely you are to behave in a business by watching what you do in social events.

Not really networking – just bumping into people

Sean did not want to ‘waste’ the networking opportunity of the party so he handed out his business card to everyone that he met, in an over eager manner. To potential clients and advocates the manner that he did this made him look desperate for business. This is essentially ‘unattractive’ as well as damaging to his business over the long term. It also made him seem preoccupied to his own business and not listening when others were speaking about theirs.

Be clear how you want to be remembered

Whenever you attend networking events or business meetings consider beforehand how you would like to be remembered. For example in Sean’s case he wanted to be remembered as a Management consultant who specialises in change management. The problem he has is that his business proposition of ‘management consultant’ is not memorable. There are many management consultants out there so he needs to try harder and be more unique to be remembered.

Sean was becoming memorable for his behaviour and not his business, therefore reducing his ability to gain advocates and new clients. Sean needed to develop a networking strategy that ensured that he was around those that could provide him with referrals and advocacy and enabled him to articulate clearly his business proposition. Sean needed to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons.

Your reputation and credibility is key to your success, particularly in the current economic climate. It’s what makes you different from your competitors and whilst it can take years to build a good name, it can take just a few seconds to destroy it, so make sure your actions and behaviour during the festive celebrations work to increase your attractiveness as a potential supplier or business partner. Networking (even at Christmas) is about building relationships and not trying to sell to your network. Create the right impression and your network will do the selling for you!

Conducting business in the 21^st Century is substantially different than in the last century. Increasingly there is a move towards buying from ethical companies and those that demonstrate good social responsibility policies. Brand perception and delivery is becoming all important.

Many consultants dismiss this as a trend that affects big business only but to do so can mean the difference between one consultant being hired over another. Brand reputation is becoming the ultimate decision maker and to ignore this trend will put your business and earning capacity in peril.

Reputation and Credibility

People increasingly buy from those that they know, like and trust, especially where the purchase has a high ticket value. Being credible and having a good reputational (personal) brand is essential, enabling the buyer’s decision making process to choose you over another consultant each and every time.

Whilst reputation and credibility are separate concepts and can be established and maintained separately they are integral to each other. To be credible as a consultant often means that you need to be an expert in your field. People and businesses prefer experts over generalists; this is after all, the decade of specialism.

To be credible therefore requires clarity on your business proposition (what your business does). Questions that you should be able to answer include the following:

• What makes you different from other consultants?
• How do you articulate what you do in a way that is easily understood by others?
• What are you known for?
• Are you easily remembered?

Credibility needs to be demonstrated and is based on your track record and competency. One of the ways to demonstrate credibility to those that have not seen your work is by articulating effectively how you achieve success for your clients in story form, free from jargon. Good stories are enjoyable to listen to and can enable subtle messaging about your expertise and ability to potential buyers or advocates. Another way is to provide support and advice to others; thus enabling snippets of your expertise to be demonstrated making it easier for others to advocate you.

I believe that reputation is based on the character of the person (or business) and the intent of the individual (or business). Reputation is therefore personal; it is how you are perceived by others. If others perceive your intention as good this can enhance your standing with others.

Reputation is built on what you say and what you demonstrate and it is important to build awareness and visibility amongst your target audience and potential advocates. It is essential that you are consistent with what you say and do, especially on the internet where everything that is recorded there is of a permanent nature. It is easy to forget that social networking sites are places where reputation and credibility is established, maintained and developed, not just places to ‘hang out with friends’. Many consultants take a relaxed and whimsical approach to how they network on places like Facebook, which can be quite detrimental to them. Others join business networks and then remain ‘invisible’ to the membership, ignoring the opportunity to enhance their reputation and find advocates for their service.

Both reputation and credibility can be established and enhanced by writing on subjects which demonstrate your expertise. Where you publish your thoughts will be dependent on your objectives.

The benefits of having the right reputation

One of the most essential benefits, especially in times of economic downturns, is that having a good reputation reduces operating costs. When you are trusted, speed in decision making is increased and cost decreases as you need less risk protection. For example, long legalistic contracts become less necessary and collaboration on projects become easier – often without the need for Non Disclosure Agreements.

An expensive but necessary component in business is having the resources to be able to market yourself effectively. Most traditional marketing techniques are ‘push’ marketing ones. For example, the consultant advertises his services to his target audience, unsure of whether they are looking for his expertise. Having a good reputation can mean that ‘pull’ marketing techniques are used. An example is where the potential client ‘pulls’ your services when he needs it – without specific advertisement. He might decide to use your service based on a referral from an advocate of yours. This means advertising spend has not been made to secure this client.

You are more likely to find that the sales cycle is reduced because you have a good reputation. It also enables others to believe that there is less of a risk working with you. This is equally true if you are an interim consultant working for short periods within large companies. A good reputation and a credible persona will help ensure that you are chosen for the role over a more obscure consultant.

Distinguishing yourself from others by being a credible expert with the right reputation makes it easier to be advocated. Advocacy is when an individual is almost evangelical about someone or their services. Advocates understand your business proposition inside out and can sell your services to potential clients with very little intervention from yourself. This reduces your marketing costs as well as your sales cycle.

The current economic climate shows now signs of improving in the short term, and the increased competition for reduced customer spend has meant that establishing and promoting your competitive advantage has never been so crucial. A good, strong and credible reputation is the one thing which can provide you with the superior and sustainable leverage you need to survive the credit crunch, whilst others around you fall by the wayside, and it wont cost you a penny!

One of the biggest challenges facing businesses right now is a crisis of leadership. There is a need to ensure that the company will remain profitable, employees remain engaged and customers satisfied for the company to survive the current economic downturn. The second biggest challenge for businesses is to truly understanding what leadership is and how to ensure that it permeates throughout the company. This is, for many companies, much harder than it appears as this desire can often manifest itself as an increase in command and control management rather than a genuine improvement in leadership. Good talent management is hard to come by.

A true leader is trusted

The best way to distinguish management from leadership is to understand that management is generally concerned with controlling complex processes; and leadership is about managing and facilitating change. This manifests itself in the leader challenging the status quo and acting and thinking in a strategic way. Whilst management tends to be restricted to those in a management role, leadership is demonstrated by individuals regardless of any formal role with the company. By encouraging leadership by all employees is the key to a company’s success. Management and leadership is integral to each other and those that hold management roles need to have a good grasp and execution in both of these disciplines.

Leadership is getting things done through trusted influence. This implies two things, that the leader inspires trusts in his followers and he has the ability to influence others. To inspire trust the leader needs to be credible and have a good reputation. When deploying talent management strategies it is important to remember that employees are loyal to their leaders not to the organisation that employs them. With this in mind it is essential then that the development of leaders in the organisation, regardless of formal role, is planned, controlled and nurtured.

Good leaders are role models and have strong empathic characters that demonstrate high social intelligence. Social intelligence differs from emotional intelligence in so much as it focuses on the impact that an individual has on others. If you have high social intelligence then it is implied that you have high emotional intelligence as well.

How to develop trust

Trust = reputation and credibility; therefore to develop trust the leader must concern himself with having the right reputation and being credible in what they do. Employees need to believe in their manager and be able to consistently predict how their manager is likely to react in any given situation. This provides them with comfort and increases the chances that they will remain loyal to their manager. The basis of trust is character and competence. Questions to consider are:

• How much integrity does the leader have?
• Is the leader egotistical or humble?
• Is the leader’s intention honourable?
• How capable is the leader in his role?
• How does the leader’s track record stack up?

To develop trust the leader must provide the right level of autonomy to their employees. A leader that has an inappropriate command and control style of leadership demonstrates a breathtaking level of distrust in the employee’s abilities. This will encourage the employees to reduce their work performance and be less likely to be loyal to the manager or their company. Leaders in management positions need to be able to tell the truth at all times as this encourages trust in the relationship between the manager and the employee. The most effective leaders acknowledge other people’s contributions and not take a disproportionate level of credit for a job well done. They should be proud of an employee’s achievement and not feel threatened by their success. A leader that selectively shows their vulnerability to their employees, thus demonstrating that they are ‘real’ is more likely to engender trust. People find it hard to relate to individuals who seem strong all the time. The reverse is not true however, those that appear weak the majority of the time tend to engender distrust and contempt by those that should be following.

Credible leaders will be an expert in what they do, demonstrating a track record of competence that enables others to have confidence in their ability. They will treat others with respect and extend trust to others on a regular basis.

Trusted leaders are more likely to be able to influence their employees. With flatter structures and more matrix organisations it is increasingly likely that leaders are expected to manage employees that are not direct management reports. They are not responsible for their pay and cannot hire or fire them – they are, however, accountable for their performance.

With the credit crunch showing no immediate signs of ending, it will be imperative for leaders to work on cementing their credibility and trustworthiness, if they are to engage with their teams and encourage them to buy-in to the organisations plans for survival. Good staff are hard to come by and even harder to keep. In tougher times, a good leader will be fundamental in retaining and motivating the organisations top talent and preparing them for future succession. Equipping them the true qualities of leadership excellence is vital to securing the continuing success of the business in years to come.

Many small businesses are putting their business and earning capacity at risk by investing in expensive marketing activity that increases visibility but does nothing for brand reputation, the ultimate decision making factor used by businesses during turbulent times, according to networking strategy specialists at leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions.

In a recent whitepaper by Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain entitled ‘building reputation and credibility for your business’, Germain suggests that potential clients will only buy ‘high ticket value’ services from those they trust and that SME’s need to focus on how they can develop, nuture and maintain that trust, particularly during the credit crunch when spend is often limited.

Germain suggests that businesses should consider forgoing expensive marketing activity that only increases the business’ visibility but does nothing to lessen the ‘risk’ of hiring the company, arguing that those who rely on referrals or social networking to secure work instead will realise that the most cost effective way to gain new clients is to use ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ marketing techniques.

“Reputation is personal in its nature, concerning itself with the character of the business (or person) and the intention of its (their) actions. It is essential that you are consistent with what you say and do, especially on the internet where everything that is recorded there is of a permanent nature. Inconsistency can be the biggest killer of reputation because it undermines the trust that is being established between the two parties”, explains Germain.

Germain strongly believes that freely providing advice to others without expectation of a return helps to build your reputation as an expert and provides an informative view on your character, and ironically the return on this activity can be immense.

Germain adds, “with the credit crunch still impacting most industries, you need to ensure that you focus your energies on delivering a consistent and compelling reason for clients to work with you and a well defined networking strategy will help you to achieve this for very little cash outlay. It is a solid, credible reputation (not just increased visibility) that will carry you and business out of the crunch and beyond. So, look at the way your brand is seen by others and ask yourself this…based on the information available about me, would I hire me?”

You can download the free whitepaper ‘building reputation and credibility for your business’ from www.developing-leadership.com/leadership-whitepapers.html. For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.