Tuesday April 19, 2016: Take a long, hard look in the mirror, advises Mary Spillane, a former White House speechwriter who coaches some of the world’s most successful sales teams and business leaders.
Do you project energy and confidence? Have you updated yourself with the changing times? Or is there a sell-by date glaring out from your forehead that your colleagues can see?
“There are only two questions in personal branding,” Spillane told today’s Association of Professional Sales seminar on coaching leaders. “What do people say about you when you leave the room? And what do you want them to say?”
These days, first impressions count. Where a baby boomer would give a sales professional their attention for a minute before dismissing their pitch, Generation X will only listen for 25 seconds, and millennials make a judgement on “buy… don’t buy” in a scarcely believable three seconds.
Spillane suggests you ask friends and family to “dish the dirt” on where you’re falling short in the vital first seconds. One of the most effective things to work on is a clear speaking voice.
“Listen to a recording of your own voice,” she urges. “If you sound as if you’ve got lockjaw, try putting a cherry tomato on your tongue. It’ll get your jaw working and open the back of your throat for resonance.”
Understatement, the British disease, is not useful in business, she warns. Women in particular are prone to undermine themselves.
From a wise-cracking, Irish Bostonian background, Spillane likes to rib the British for their reserve. It’s kindly mockery, as Spillane claims the British are the nicest nationality she knows. “You think such nice things. Now you just need to spit them out and say them.”
It’s her guffaw and her talent for shooting from the lip that makes it easy to imagine her in the testosterone-fuelled environment of the Reagan White House.
She rattles off a series of rules. Don’t hit the booze at sales dinners. Executive small talk? Current affairs. Read the Economist if you need to be better informed. Don’t bother with the weather, “that’s for hairdressers”. Pay attention to how you present on your social media – prospective clients and employers will read it.
Male grooming? Buy a charcoal suit and make sure it fits. It’s tougher for women, as they are more harshly judged. Be polished, she says.
As one member of her audience uses his son as an example, Spillane stops him short.
“Don’t talk about your children and your grandchildren in the business environment. It’s ageing. Ageism is an issue. Sexism is an issue. Ethnicity is an issue.”
Talk of dogs and grandchildren is for Facebook, Spillane insists, revealing – to general shock – that she is 66. She is lean, toned and immaculate. She doesn’t look anything close to her years.
Looking good is part of the sell too. Being fit conveys the impression you have the vitality to see the job through, she says.
But by far the most effective weapon in a leader’s armoury when out to sell themselves is charm. Can this be learned? “Sure,” says Spillane.
“The key is leaving people feeling better about themselves. Clinton had it. You may find this hard to believe, but John Major has it in spades.
“Your introduction is your logo, your personality is your trademark. But how you leave people feeling after an experience with you is your brand.”
Further information: www.maryspillane.com.
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