I have a question for you:
Which people or companies do you publicly associate with?
The reason I am asking you this, is that potential customers and clients often look at the people or businesses we associate with, as a short-cut to determining the kind of people WE are.
Trust and credibility can either be destroyed or boosted in seconds, depending on the individuals and companies we are aligned with or associate with.
Bad company
I recall being at a local business exhibition, when a young man joined a small group of people I was speaking informally with, before we entered the main exhibition area. He introduced himself and joined our conversation. One of the guys asked him what line of business he was in and he said he owned a local printing company. After about 5 minutes, the group dispersed.
Interestingly, just before the printer joined us, one of the guys said he was looking to get some promotional flyers printed and needed to find a local print company. I was curious why he never asked for the print guys business card, so when I saw him later, I asked him.
“I noticed he arrived with (persons name.) That guy’s little better than a conman. If he hangs around with people like that, I don’t want him near me or my business.”
It’s possible that the print company owner never knew about the reputation of the man he arrived with and later sat with. He was almost certainly unaware that he had just damaged his reputation with a large number of people in his local business community – his potential clients.
The bottom line: We need to be extremely careful before we associate our name, brand or reputation with another individual or company.
It’s just the same online
I am not an active user of Linkedin, but have an account there purely as a way to study it, for my work as a marketing coach. It’s a good service, which is why I study it, but one that I have zero need for right now.
However, I get emails every day from people via Linkedin, whom I have never heard of, asking if I will join their ‘network’. That’s okay – part of being on the system.
The thing is, at least 90% of these invites claim that I’m someone they have worked with, even though they know it’s a total lie and I don’t even know them!
Why do they do this?
Because IT WORKS!
If they send that spammy bullshit to enough people, some will accept, in an ill-judged attempt to build their own network. Guess what kind of people send those requests? Right – the kind you do NOT want to be linked with!
Here’s a great question to ask ourselves
If a stranger wanted to build a picture of the kind of person I am, JUST by looking at who I associate with, what kind of a picture would that be?
If you are not happy with the answer – disconnect from your toxic contacts and replace them with honest, credible people like you!
Photo: Ella’s Dad
This is totally true Jim.
I was going to use a web designer but when I saw him linking to some really low class websites, I decided not to call him.
I literally had the phone in my hand, but realized he was not the kind of guy I wanted to do business with.
The project was worth $11k in the end and he blew it by linking to bad neighborhoods. Thx Jim.
Hi Jim. Another great post (getting jealous of your ability to keep churning them out!). This is a very good wake-up call for us all, that association with good people can really work – and that association with those with a tarnished reputation can completely knock our business for six!
Barney Austen´s last blog ..Project Management – A To-Do List With Dates!
It’s a good topic for Discussion Jim. What makes this tough to manage is the large use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc… With people able to see your list of friends and who you follow, it becomes a balancing act to keep your associations looking good to prospective clients.
I’ve often shied away from adding vendors and clients to my personal FB account, as it may not be “business like” all the time. A simple comment could offend the wrong person and result in a lost sale or client.
You have to be aware of everything you put online. It’s important to pause before clicking “update” to make sure your message is not tarnished by a simple post. “Be yourself”, yes, but make sure “you” are what you want clients actually seeing.
Rob Mangiafico´s last blog ..Getting the Most Out of the Oprah Effect – How LexiConn Helped Cosabella Increase Sales 2000%
This is a very delicate area..
Most of Us online have many social network accounts for their it becomes hard to really set everyone of them to a Business network!
For instance I have my FB account and I also have a 3 yr old.
One day he saw farmville and from that day til today he plays this game online.. which in return made a complete mess of my small network!
But my question..
is this really bad for Business..??
I guess when I did it this way I myself could answer that! Yes it is bad for Business.
I guess I should, separate them now!
Thanks for eye opener……
Norman Flecha
Straight Talk
STRAIGHTALK´s last blog ..scriptaculous V1.8.3: Prototype 1.6.1, service release/bug fixes
Yep, I’ve actually deleted a handful of Facebook friends because it was a caustic association. But I agree with Straighttalk, its a delicate area when we mix our business network with social friends and family.
Tom Wanek´s last blog ..How Exclusive Marketing Partnerships Can Rev Up Your Business
Hmmmm. I know what you’re saying here, Jim. I certainly wouldn’t connect with people on LinkedIn that I didn’t know, or rate. But I realise that I haven’t necessarily being applying the same logic to Twitter and Facebook. In the case of the latter, I need to get my head more round how it works and realise, as a side issue to the key one here, that I’m doing myself a disservice by having a half-hearted and mainly inactive profile up there.