Riding for the Brand

Sales trainer Tom Reilly has a wonderful perspective on sales and salespeople. Today he shares about being proud of your brand - both your personal work and your product.

Louis L'Amour, perhaps the most prolific American writer, wrote a short story about it. Cowboy poet extraordinaire Red Steagall scribed a poem about it. In western lore and legend, "Riding for the brand" meant loyalty and pride. It meant that when you agreed to work for someone you would wear his brand as your own. I think we would all be better off if we rode for the brand. It satisfies a basic human need to be a part of something bigger and better than ourselves.

As a salesperson, you ride for the brand when you...

* Wear logo wear with pride, realizing that you are a walking billboard for your company.
* Handle and demonstrate your products with pride.
* Represent your company well.
* Tell the truth, always and especially when it's tough to do.
* Speak well of your management team and peers, even when you disagree with them.
* Give your company a full-day's effort for a full-day's pay.
* Answer your phone with enthusiasm, thanking the customer for the chance to serve.
* Know that your company's brand is your brand; you are part of it.

Brands are built from the bottom up. Your management can invest millions of dollars to promote an image in the market, but how you ride for the brand speaks louder than all the words in the advertising and promotion. Red Steagall said it best:

Son, a man's brand
Is his own special mark
That says this is mine, leave it alone.
You hire out to a man
Ride for the brand
And protect it like it was your own.

Tom Reilly is the president of Tom Reilly Training. He is an authority on value-added selling, and speaks to thousands of salespeople and managers annually on increasing their value to their company and customers.