Conversations by the Rio Grande Valley New Media community.
Using New Media at Work
I don't know how closely folks keep up with what I'm doing, except for those of you on Twitter. This Summer, I started working at a local radio service company, in McAllen. I started off as a tech and recently made the move to "Account Executive". I've never had a sales job in the past; so, this is a stretch for me. It seems, however, that it ties in to what I do anyway, right?
From the outside, it seems to me that working in sales is like a campaign of sorts. Having worked a political campaign or two, I can see that much of the success of a campaign rests on brute force meeting and greeting. You have to meet as many people and shake as many hands as possible to increase your raw number of successful pitches. If for example, I know that 1 out of every 10 meetings would lead to a sale, then meeting 100 people would lead to 10 sales, and 1000 people would lead to 100 sales. Theoretically. But it's not just numbers. Obviously, a big part has to do with branding. Politicians rely heavily on name recognition, preferably favorable.
Out on the Internets, I have some name recognition; which doesn't translate into the "real world" impressively. But, a lot of this name recognition comes from hard work and constantly working to get my name out there. It seems that branding my company and the products that I will be selling would require much of that same hard work and marketing diligence. The big difference is that in this campaign, I'm the candidate who has to go out to meet and greet my clients. In addition, the brand changes to a hybrid of my own personal brand and the company brand.
Instinctively, I was against taking a job in the first place. I was well on my way towards establishing some level of self-employment. Now as a sales guy, my instinct to run is tempered by the question whether I can take this company's name and take it to new levels. It seems to be turning into a personal quest as to whether I can use what I have learned about New Media to successfully brand the company. After all, the more I sell the more I earn, right? Doesn't it make sense to take my web and self marketing experience to task to show that I really CAN do it? If I can successfully brand the company to a better position, then I would have awesome transferable skills for any endeavor.
I was just thinking out loud. What do you think?
From the outside, it seems to me that working in sales is like a campaign of sorts. Having worked a political campaign or two, I can see that much of the success of a campaign rests on brute force meeting and greeting. You have to meet as many people and shake as many hands as possible to increase your raw number of successful pitches. If for example, I know that 1 out of every 10 meetings would lead to a sale, then meeting 100 people would lead to 10 sales, and 1000 people would lead to 100 sales. Theoretically. But it's not just numbers. Obviously, a big part has to do with branding. Politicians rely heavily on name recognition, preferably favorable.
Out on the Internets, I have some name recognition; which doesn't translate into the "real world" impressively. But, a lot of this name recognition comes from hard work and constantly working to get my name out there. It seems that branding my company and the products that I will be selling would require much of that same hard work and marketing diligence. The big difference is that in this campaign, I'm the candidate who has to go out to meet and greet my clients. In addition, the brand changes to a hybrid of my own personal brand and the company brand.
Instinctively, I was against taking a job in the first place. I was well on my way towards establishing some level of self-employment. Now as a sales guy, my instinct to run is tempered by the question whether I can take this company's name and take it to new levels. It seems to be turning into a personal quest as to whether I can use what I have learned about New Media to successfully brand the company. After all, the more I sell the more I earn, right? Doesn't it make sense to take my web and self marketing experience to task to show that I really CAN do it? If I can successfully brand the company to a better position, then I would have awesome transferable skills for any endeavor.
I was just thinking out loud. What do you think?
Comment
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Comment by JenniferNavarrete on October 28, 2008 at 6:42pm -
I completely agree.
Consider what the Chris Brogan's of the world have already done. It becomes easy to see how your personal brand building knowledge can also be applied to your employer's brand.
Good luck!
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