Personality – The Secret Business Weapon

Never before has it been so important to put your personality into your business. No one wants to do business with a boring company or a boring person.

This is the topic that John Morgan and Dean Hunt are going to be tackling today… enjoy.

John Morgan Says…

John Morgan rocking it live

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is not understanding that people want to do business with people. If there’s no personality in your business then it’s hard for prospects to connect and care about what you do. Take Pepsi and Coke for example. Sure, there are people who have their preference on which drink they prefer, but if I’m at a restaurant and I order Coke and they have Pepsi, then I’m drinking Pepsi and not thinking twice about it.

It’s easy to jump ship to a competitor when there’s no real connection.

By putting personality into your business you’re giving prospects something to connect to. That connection is more important than credentials or experience. Once people feel connected to you, it’s hard to break that unless you totally screw up.

Another benefit is that people remember personality more than they remember content. I attended a 3 day seminar once that probably featured 30 or so speakers. All of them delivered great content. But I remember 2 of them. It should be of no surprise to you that those 2 really put their personality into their presentations and a year later I’m still thinking of them and doing business with them.

The biggest advantage you have in business is YOU. So find elements of your personality to put out there for people to connect to.

Every prospect will connect to a different part of your personality. Those who have been following me for a while know how I feel about my mother-in-law. (I think she’s awesome…said in my best sarcastic voice) People now send me their horror stories of their mother-in-law. It’s simple, but it gives us something in common. It’s something they can relate to.

Now people are looking out for what my mother-in-law will do next. And while they’re looking, they are paying attention. That attention isn’t easy to come by these days which makes the importance of putting your personality out there extremely important.

Personality makes you stand out, and makes you human. Your competition can copy your product, copy your price, and copy your website. But they can’t copy you. That’s why it’s so critical to put your personality into your marketing and your business.

Dean Hunt Says…

Dean Hunt says....

John makes a great point when he says that competitors cannot copy your personality… that is an advantage that we all can, and should be tapping into.

I once had a young entrepreneur tell me that my blog at DeanHunt.com (shameless plug) was worthless because it was tied to my personal brand… my reply was that I wouldn’t sell it for all the money in the world, because it was my personal brand.

I think some people are still struggling to get that our personal brands (which are an extension of our personalities) are the only thing (other than death and taxes) that will be around forever.

Businesses come and go, big brands come and go, even some billion dollar brands have been known to vanish in a short space of time… but when you attach a business to a person, that is something that can never be taken away.

A common mistake that John and I have seen with clients in the past is trying to copy other experts… for example, I have actually heard of a guy who took up surfing because “it worked for Frank Kern, so why not?!?”.

If you try and be someone else, the best you can hope for is to be a second-rate version of them… so as cheesy as it sounds, be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

And finally, a quick way to inject personality into your business, and I know John is an expert at this, is to be more open… I have seen John on numerous occasions talk about his mother in law in trainings, calls, interviews etc… and both John and I regularly talk about our love of the White Stripes and Oasis… don’t be afraid of opening up and sharing with your audience…

It might sound trivial, but here is an example that may surprise you:

I was recently speaking at a seminar, and a guy came up to me afterwards and told me he bought my product solely because I mentioned I used to be a golfer, and he likes golf.

It wasn’t my huge charisma, amazing product, or chiseled good looks that made him buy (haha), it was the fact that he could relate to, what in hindsight, was an irrelevant aspect of my past.

So remember, people buy people.… which reminds me of a trip I took to Amsterdam once (just joking)

Dean

PS: We would love to hear your thoughts, opinions and stories on personality in business… leave a comment below.

PPS: Checkout more from John Morgan here: Surefire Branding