 The best decision I ever made was to develop my personal brand as a sales manager. Yes, it's a ton of work and yes, it requires daily effort. But the benefits far outweigh the work that's involved to set myself apart from my competition in my industry. So why do I work so hard on my personal brand? Well, today I'm sharing six rock star reasons why every sales manager should develop a personal brand. Stick around. Here's why it's Leanne and it was about five years ago that I got really intentional about developing my personal brand. At the time, it was more so about learning a thing or two about blogging, maybe going on social media once in a while. But fast forward, I can't tell you how happy I am that I did put in the time at the beginning and continue to put in the time today. I've been able to attract quite a great following on LinkedIn in my industry, as well as attracted some opportunities to speak on podcasts, speak on other people's video channels, as well as contribute to blogs. And that's all as a result of developing my personal brand. So today I'm outlining six important reasons why I think every sales manager should put in some time to develop their own personal brand. But before we get started, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on that little bell to be notified of new content. I'll be posting tips and strategies to help you grow your brand week over week and stick around to the end of the video. I have one bonus tip for you, something that you can start using today to grow your own brand. So let's take a look at why personal branding in sales is so important. Reason number one, you control the messaging. If you're a sales manager, you likely have a presence on the World Wide Web, whatever that presence might look like. But as you develop a brand, you now control what shows up on Google when people Google your name. So developing your brand gives that control back to you and showcases what you want to be said about you to your target audience. Tip number two, it humanizes your product. And as a sales manager, you've probably heard this before, that people prefer to buy from people, not from organizations or things. And that's why so many organizations have celebrity endorsements. Is there humanizing the thing that they are selling? You can be that endorsement for your own organization, especially if you develop a personal brand. It'll make your product more enduring to your target client or prospect. Reason number three, it helps you stand out from the competition. Brand builders are few and far between, especially in the sales world. So when someone is looking for a referral for something, those who develop a personal brand will come to mind sooner and someone will be able to say, yeah, I know who you need to call if you need that thing. So developing a brand sets you apart from everyone else in your field and you become top of mind when people are talking about your product or service. Reason number four, it opens doors to job opportunities. Job recruiters look for people who have an established brand, be it a completed LinkedIn profile or some thought leader pieces that you've put out into your industry. People will be looking for that when they start looking for people to fill their open positions. And friends, even if you are not currently looking for a position, be open to the idea, especially if that next dream job just happens to find you because of your personal brand. Reason number five, it opens doors for recognition. It only makes sense that when you have an amplified personal brand, people take notice. These people could be internal at your organization. They could also be people that are at your professional association. But again, when you start to create content and be thoughtful about contributing to your industry through your brand, people will take notice and start to recognize you for your efforts. Reason number six, it creates opportunities to amplify your brand further. Think of it as compound interest. When you speak, guests speak on someone's podcast, you start to gain more traction on your brand. When your blog post starts to gain more traction on your website, you gain more eyes on that content. So amplifying your brand, be it through social media posts, through a podcast, through a video engagement, it only creates more opportunities for your brand to grow. And here is my bonus tip for you, my friends. If you have a LinkedIn profile, it will drift to the top of the Google results when someone Googles your name. So having a completed and attractive LinkedIn profile will be one of the best ways that you can showcase your brand when people are finding you organically through Google searches. If you're interested in learning more about my LinkedIn resource for sales professionals and when enrollment will open again, go to liankulderwood.com forward slash LinkedIn. While those are my top six reasons, there's probably a plethora of reasons why sales professionals should amplify their personal brand. If I've missed something, please let me know in the comments below. I want to make sure that I get that out to the community as well. Do you plan on growing your personal brand in the upcoming year? If so, join the community and the conversation over on the Facebook group at Personal Branding for Sales, where we talk all things personal branding just for sales professionals. And if you were specifically in the meetings and events industry as a sales professional, I did a video just for you and you can find that right here. Friends, I look forward to hearing more about your personal branding journey. Please stay in touch and let us know how you're doing over in the Facebook group. Best of luck. Bye for now.