When your answer is Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeremy Clarkson, Oprah Winfrey and well … whatever face you put on corruption, it is possibly because these people have built their brands so successfully that even 36 years after Schwarzenegger has even competed in a competition, his name is the one most people will remember in the sport of body-building. And the same goes for Clarkson and Winfrey.
At the fifth annual Adams & Adams WineLand Seminar which took place at Spier outside of Stellenbosch, author, business consultant, professional speaker, innovator and guest speaker Douglas Kruger, asked the questions. “What is your brand? And why bother?”
If you care and bother how you go about your sales and marketing, and want to be an expert – the one people come to – three things are important: knowledge, personality and publicity.
“How do you make sales and marketing happen by design?” he asks. “Have knowledge, personality and publicity work for you. If you don’t have all three, disqualify yourself from becoming an expert. For instance, if you have knowledge and personality, but no publicity, you’re lost. If you have personality, but no knowledge, you’re just a Kardashian.”
Amateurs have jobs, but experts have a cause
“Experts have a vastly different energy to them. Maybe you can become a leader in your cause. But first you have to ask yourself what is the cause built into your own business? Do you recognise it?
Experts know appearance is everything … and so they appear.
“Be more than an e-mail, be a face. Experts make a point of appearing.”
Experts out-innovate the rest
“If you ask a different question, you will get a different answer. What is awful about your industry? Ask that question; that’s where the gold lies.”
Experts add a unique signature
Are you that interesting novel story I heard about? That sense of theatre? What story is built into your business process? What ribbons do you put around your product?”
“Knowledge, personality and publicity. You can earn an extra zero (at the end of your salary figure that is) by being the expert. Own your industry!”
Download the presentations:
Michelle Smith
Dr Morné Mostert
Alternatively e-mail in@wineland.co.za for enquiries.