The biggest mistake you could be making right now is keeping your head down, working hard and forgetting about your public perception. If you were suffering from cash flow problems would you let your customers know? If business were hurting would that be a selling point to your prospects? If times were tough all around, would you want to portray dire straights to your customers? Of course not! But we unknowingly send those signals every day. It’s in the actions we take, the words we use and the posture we present. It is called letting our reality become our public perception. It is never good. Perception is reality.
If you don’t concentrate on your brand and the message your sending to customers and prospects, you could be telling a story you don’t want going public. Look at the iconic brand of Tiger Woods and the disaster he has found himself in. Understandably he had family issues to deal with, however there was no one managing how the entire debacle looked to his advertisers and the public. The results, a shattered perception and negative PR event that took on a life of it’s own. This is what happens when the internal reality becomes the public image.
It’s not just celebrities, it happens with small and large businesses as well. I was consulting with a company who was experiencing a downswing in business. Normally, they were very active publicly. The instinct was to pull back on everything. I asked them to explain and they replied; “Things are a little down right now and we need to wait until business picks up.” I asked, “Ok, but how will they pick up if you look like you are hurting?” It took only a second for them to realize that they had to appear confident, capable and successful in order to generate business in their line of work. Silence from them was like advertising they were going out of business.
The actual reality of your business does not have to be your public image. You must convey confidence and ability to perform no matter what, or you are sentencing your company to death. Activity creates a perception of success, business, acumen and third party endorsements. Above all else, make sure that you are aware of how your customers and prospects are viewing your company. Look at your business through your customer’s eyes, would you buy from you?
