Don’t be shy of who you are

You want people to connect your name and overall image with the industry you are working in and become recognizable for the uniqueness of what you do. Of course, you shouldn’t be bragging about your key competencies too much, or exaggerate what you are able to do (it will hit you in the head – your profit, reputation or both). But you definitely shouldn’t be afraid of emphasizing your key strengths – don’t be shy of who you are.

Become self-aware: know what you can and will do, and be clear about what you won’t do. You should be aware of your business’ possibilities, your strengths and weaknesses, the quality of the solutions you provide and about the stuff you actually can’t or for some reason won’t do. For example, Inchoo is proud to be Magento Silver Solution Partner and as of July 2012 eight of our senior developers have become officially accredited as Magento Certified Developers. That is, first of all, a fact and secondly, it shortly introduces us and also gives a really direct impression on who we are.

But there are some types of Magento projects we won’t take on because of the clients’ and ours timeframe mismatch, or perhaps our hourly rates don’t match the expected, or we are simply not interested in some types of work taking into account our teams’ workload (or even preferences).

All of that is important in delivering the best value to our clients. So, develop an understandable “we are good at this and we want to do this” and also a clear “we are saying no to this”. It will earn you much respect with your customers and it will also help you manage your business better by gaining the right focus and growing it on a trustworthy foundation.

Show off your qualities wisely and don’t put your storytelling in front of listening to your customers. When talking, never put your story in front of your customers’ – you are here because of them and to help them, so let your reputation grow with every lead you take… 🙂

Of course, the story you are reflecting and telling should have a solid background to prove it. We at Inchoo are very proud about all the projects in our portfolio and also about all the clients’ testimonials we have earned so far. It took time and effort to gain this, but they are significant proofs which maintain our image and say a lot about our Magento experience and expertise. Also, our blog is very important for spreading the knowledge and interaction with Magento world and we get a lot of positive feedbacks and new leads because of it. It’s important to maintain your expertise and reputation: don’t hold on to old success stories, always aim to keep it up and have something new to bring out.

How do you talk about your business and how do you keep your storytelling/impression/reputation fresh and alive?

Don’t be shy to share your experience in the comments below 🙂