11 Apr Now, What Do You Do For A Living?

How good are you at promoting yourself verbally? When you meet people, do you let them know what you do for a living? You should. However, many business owners and professionals fail to tweet their own horn. Sure it’s easy to talk about your business or line of work at business networking functions, but what about in social situations?

Read the following story and see if you can relate. This is a true story about myself. A lady walks into our office and relays to our office manager that she needs some business cards printed. So she is referred to one of our promotional products specialists. While I am in my office, I can hear parts of the conversation happening and the client’s voice sounds familiar. So I peek my head out and see a friend from church that I have known for about four years. When I see her, I greet her and she says, “I didn’t know you worked here.” I reply with, “Not only do I work here, but I own Perfect Imprints.”

So the moral is the story is that I very obviously did a lousy job promoting myself and my business. Now you must have some etiquette and not be annoying. You don’t want to turn social situations into business situations. You don’t want to conduct business while at church service. But, as you are wrapping up your conversation with friends, acquaintances, or new people you meet, just casually hand them your business card and say, “Here’s my business card with my contact info on it in case you ever need to get in contact with me.” I guarantee everyone will look at it and associate your business with you. Whether you own a business or work for a business, you should always promote that business and ensure your job security every opportunity you get.

So don’t be shy. Tell others about your business and begin developing deeper relationships with clients. In small business, more people than not, prefer to do business with someone they know and trust. Capitalize on that trust and your business will see growth.