Selling Employment Branding

By Matt Kelm
Sales Trainer
CareerBuilder.com
October 4th, 2007

This morning I attended a training on selling employment branding and the impact of advertising your companies brand in the marketplace. There were a few things that occurred to me during this presentation that I thought I'd share.

Branding, especially employment branding, is a long-term plan.

If you were running for president you wouldn't begin campaigning the night before the election and expect people to vote for you. Likewise, you wouldn't build your employment brand the day before you need an A-Sales player and expect them to apply for your opportunity.

BRANDING: WHY I HATE THE TERM ANCILLARY PRODUCTS!!

Every company has them in their offering and they are a great revenue driver for any sales rep who sells them. So why do I hate them? In truth, I think ancillary products are a fantastic way to penetrate an account and reach deeper into the pockets of our clients and prospects. The trouble I have with ancillary products is the term "ancillary products".

I think you'll understand where I'm going with this if we first take a look at a few synonyms for the word "ancillary." Synonyms for ancillary include: Secondary, Additional, Supplemental etc.

Should your company brand be secondary? Should attracting top talent by branding your company as a choice employer be supplemental?

Lets all pause and listen intently for the collective "No." I would rather associate these products, especially branding products, with terms like: "Value", "Market Share", "Choice Employer", "Revenue Driver". We've all read the countless survey results like the one recently conducted by Accenture that all say basically the same thing: "Attracting and retaining skilled staff ranked highest on executive agendas." So if we agree that brand should not be considered ancillary and that attracting and retaining top talent is at the forefront of the minds of executives I offer you this question:

Why are we not talking to executives about branding? The answer...Mindset

Because we do not truly understand what branding is or how it effects our customers business coupled with the fact that we often times view branding as something "additional" or "extra", more than 90% of the time we are not including branding anywhere in our initial sales pitch to prospects. Sure we'll pitch the basics because that is what we're used to and that is what we're comfortable with; it's what WE know. The truth is that branding should be included in every single pitch we make to our prospects.

Someone please find me a company that does not want to promote their brand. If you find one, I guarantee it won't be around for very long. Think about it. This applies to every size business. Starbucks needs to foster its brand to stay competitive and gain more market share. Ever heard of Matt's Electronic Shoppe? Me either. Want to work for them? Maybe, but I'd rather work for Best Buy. Sounds like they need to build their company brand and promote themselves as a choice employer.

I'll say this more than once: The only way to understand how to sell branding is to sell branding.

That's right, pick up the phone and start talking to your clients and prospects about it and you'll be amazed at the overwhelming response.

As a sales trainer I am tasked with training sales teams how to sell branding products and not surprisingly the trainings I run regarding this topic have the highest attendance numbers. Everyone is looking for that "magic bullet" or the one phrase that will make executives want to purchase every branding tool we have in our product suite. The answer however is that there is no magic bullet or one way to sell branding.

Looking back on my own experience selling branding, I learned a really important lesson early on. I was preparing to run a face to face appointment with a company and I had never pitched a branding solution before. I spent an enormous amount of time researching data on branding trends, preparing a 30 slide Power Point presentation, researching case studies, reading articles/books on the subject etc. and at the end of all of that I was no more prepared for the meeting than when I started. When it came time to sit down with the executives of the company I was meeting with and discuss brand I learned more in the hour I spent having a conversation with them about branding than I had in the days I spent researching the topic.

Why?

Because for the first time I was able to truly see how brand impacts an entire organization. I was able to see the forest and not only the trees. It was now more than just "you can put your logo here", it was "here is how you can attract an A-Sales player that will allow you to replace the under performing sales rep and increase your revenue by $500,000 this year alone" Those are two COMPLETELY different conversations. There is a huge difference between being "book smart" and being "street smart" and when it comes to selling branding you need street smarts.

What's the best way to sell branding? The only way to understand how to sell branding is to sell branding.

PICK UP THE PHONE AND TALK TO SOMEONE!

There aren't any books that will give you the talk track needed to hold a conversation with any business executive regarding this subject. Statistics, articles and books are great guide posts along the way but the only way to learn how to sell branding is to start selling it and not be afraid to screw it up a few times. I promise you that executives will not take you to the cleaners if your branding presentation is not perfect. These executives NEED you. They need a consultant to be a resource to them.

GET OVER IT AND GET STARTED!

To get you started I offer you the following conversation starters:

• HR Executive: What is your current employment branding practice? How effective is it?
• Marketing Executive: How does your corporate brand fit into your overall hiring strategy?
• C-Level Executive: What is your companies core value proposition?
• Anyone: How do you think your company can become a “choice employer?”

People to call:

• C-Level Executives
• VP of HR
• CMO/VP/Marketing Director

PICK 3 ACCOUNTS, CALL 1 NEW CONTACT IN EACH OF THEM AND HAVE A COVERSATION WITH THEM ABOUT BRANDING TODAY!