One of the big changes of the past few years, is that your marketplace can now see what you say AND what you do, like never before.
Until relatively recently, it was possible to have glossy brochures and advertisements, which showcased us as consummate professionals. Then, our prospective clients wouldn’t know any different, until they met us or spoke with people who had experience of us and our work.
Thankfully, the world has changed
Today, many of our actions are visible to anyone who wants to check us out and these highly visible actions can be extremely revealing. People can see how consistent we are, by looking at what we claim and comparing it to how we act.
For example, the marketplace can see:
- When you preach the value of permission marketing, yet pester people with your unsolicited communications.
- When you claim to be passionate about your business, yet feel the need to tell the world via your social networking accounts, how overjoyed you are to get the heck away from your business every Friday. It’s understandable for a disgruntled employee to act like that. When we see business owners doing it, the temptation is to suggest they quit and start a business they actually enjoy and are energized by.
- When you say you offer a high quality service and believe in investing in quality, yet you operate behind an outdated or cheap looking website. Don’t expect your marketplace to invest in your business, if YOU don’t.
- When you claim to be a leader in your field, yet your online activity is that of a sheep.
- When you market yourself as a creative person, yet your articles, posts or social networking accounts, show no craft.
- When you market your services based on being reliable, yet you fail to show up on your blog regularly.
The best part is that everyone is free to do all of the above, which means that many of them will.
This makes it massively easier for YOU to shine, by showing people you are the real deal, through acting in accordance with what you say.