Glen Gould teaches job seekers to build a personal brand with a clear, simple statement repeated consistently. Wear a distinctive signifier like a red vest, open with a striking elevator pitch, and treat every outing as an audition. Offer short-term contracts to reduce risk and prove your value.
Chapters
I'm really excited to be here today. How many of you are excited to be here today? Really? You know what I believe? I believe the word excited has been used so often that nobody's excited about it anymore, just kind of like unique. I want to go back to using the right word because everybody can't be excited about everything. I'm happy to be here today, and I know that you're happy to be here today too. And I hope that as we go along today that I'll have something of value for you and that you'll enjoy the talk as well. But we're going to talk about the brand you today. I think that that's kind of congruent with what Dave has been working on. And I am such a technology— oh, there we go. I got it. And I'd like— as I started to think about the brand you, I thought about the ultimate brand. I believe the ultimate brand— I think God has just kind of like nailed it when it comes to a brand. You know, he is forever. You know, everyone knows him. Everyone knows his name. In the Bible it says, and I've got a slide next, it says "I am" 719 times. Now, I looked this up, so I didn't go ahead and count them myself, so that may be wrong. I saw 821. I saw all sorts of numbers, but 719 seemed to be the consensus. And probably the most famous "I am" statement is when God said, "And God said unto Moses, I am that I am." And he said, "Thus shalt you say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me unto you.'" Would you all pray with me just for a moment? Father God, thank you for being you and for being so clear as to who you are. Lord, thank you for just giving us the example in everything, in every part and walk in our life through your word and through your deed. Lord, we pray today that the words that I would say to these folks in this room would be enlightening and encouraging, that they would be the words that you would have me say, and that everyone would leave here today enriched, filled with your spirit, and ready to encounter the day in a positive manner where we would have a positive impact on those that we encounter. Lord, we ask that you protect our families today, our friends, that you protect our leaders in our country in this very, very challenging time that we're encountering. Lord, we just pray that you would Fill us with your spirit so that we may be examples of your goodness. And we ask that you bless this meeting and that you help everyone in this room find what they're looking for. In your name we pray, amen. So, I am— that's the statement that God makes about himself. And I am is a powerful, clear statement. As I said, it appears 719 times in the Bible. Every time it does, it's to demonstrate that there really is nothing else to say about the topic. He is. It's as simple as that. If you have any question about what God is, he is. And that to me is the epitome of what is a brand. And so I've got some, I've got some things up here. What is in a brand? A jet. How many of you know what Just Do It is? Nike, right? How about what's in your wallet? Have they worn that one out, right? Eat more chicken? I'm lovin' it. McDonald's, right? And that was easy. Staples, right? So now here, now that's interesting. I heard somebody say office, like they were gonna say Office Depot or Mac's, because we think of Staples as being an office supply store. And you have to be careful with what your brand is because very often somebody will piggyback on your brand and get the benefit of all the work that you've done, just like Office Depot did with Staples right there. Office Depot is taking care of business. Bachmann Turner Overdrive. So let's go for some old ones. How many of you know, could fill in these two slots right there? Blank tastes good like a blank should. Winston tastes good like a cigar. Cigarettes should. I'd rather fight than switch. Who knows what that is? Who? Tarryton. How many of you know what LFMST stands for? Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco. Isn't that amazing? We'll leave a light on for you. Motel 6, right? I can't believe I ate the whole thing. How many know what the next line is? You ate it, Ralph. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. No, Ralph, I ate it. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. What's I can't believe I ate the whole thing? Sup? Pardon? Alka-Seltzer, absolutely. It's relief for eating too much, right? Now, the reason I bring up these brands is because I can't believe I ate the whole thing or Winston tastes good like a cigarette should, that hadn't been on the— It hadn't been for 30 years, and yet people are still here. They remember everything about something with a simple statement. Don't you want to have that for yourself? The real question we have for you today is, who will, or will you, remember me? Because right now you're going through a time where people need to remember you. You need to be remembered. If you aren't stop paying attention to that. Stop everything you're doing today and realize that the most important thing you can do is to be remembered. And it's immediately after that, remember that in a good way. I mean, I can't tell you, I'm glad to see that I don't have to embarrass anybody today, but I've come to this meeting before where I've spoken and I've seen people in sweatpants. Unless you're trying to get a personal trainer job, you shouldn't be wearing sweatpants in public. I'm talking to the grocery store or anywhere, because the likelihood of running into somebody who will have a positive impact on your life is significantly improved if you put your uniform on every day. If when you wake up in the morning you go, you know what, somebody's buying this. You know why I'm wearing a coat? Because I'm auditioning for a job right now. I've got video going, I've got the microphone going, somebody's going to see this, maybe you are gonna run into somebody you know. I'm auditioning for a job every single day, every place I go. Somebody's gonna pay for this. And when you take that attitude when you leave the house, the likelihood you're gonna find what you're looking for is much greater. How can I stand out? I'm gonna give you some tips here in a moment about how you can stand out, but the most important thing to realize is that you wanna stand out in a way that makes people believe that you can help them. You don't wanna stand— I mean, there are sales trainers that I've gone to and they wear vests. It's just a red vest. Every single day, everywhere he goes, he wears a red vest. Everyone knows John Childers is the red vest guy. There's a woman that I know up in Atlanta who does speaker training and she does self-intro training. She wears this huge hat. Her name's Wendy Kinney. Everybody knows Wendy Kinney's the hat lady. What's your unique thing that makes you stand out from the crowd but isn't so over the top that people wouldn't buy you? Because at the end of the day, what you're trying to do is get people to buy you. Do you know that? You want people to buy you. So how do you stand out without looking like a fool? You see my guy upside down? Don't go in there and try to impress somebody with flash. You've got to impress them with what you have. I was talking to a friend yesterday, and we were talking about his business. And I said, Andy, the thing you have to do is you have to let people know that they have to buy from you to get what only you can give them. And I know what a lot of you are thinking is a lot of you are thinking, well, I'm a data analyst, or I'm a computer programmer, or I'm an airline pilot, or I'm a CPA, or whatever you might be. I'm a financial advisor. Yeah, it's a commodity business when you get down to it. But only you can deliver what you can deliver. You are here. For a unique purpose. You're here to make an impact. Don't buy what the evil one's telling you. You are here for an impact. So, how do you stand out? I'm gonna give you some ideas. Number 1 is, do you approach people by letting them know you solve problems? Do you know what the greatest example of solving problems can be for somebody who is looking for a job? What do you think? You can help me fix that. That's good. You're talking to somebody, they have this problem, I can help you fix that. But you know what the greatest demonstration that you can solve problems is? When you solve your problem that you don't have a job. Duh. It's kind of like the old Steve Martin routine. He said, you know, if you want to be a millionaire, first get a million dollars. That's pretty easy, right? But the fact is, is that if you approach it from the fact that I'm going to show people how good I am by solving my own problem. People buying me today. Every single day. You've got to show people you solve problems. So when you're talking to people, when you're interviewing for a position, when you're meeting somebody at the grocery store and they're saying, "Well, you know, I know so-and-so. They're looking for, you know, they're looking for somebody who can do whatever." I can solve that problem. I'd be happy to solve that problem for her. Do you have her number? Do you have her email address? Would you be willing to write me a short note that says that you've sent me? I'll solve that problem. Absolutely. Yeah, here's an idea. You're in an interview. You know, 500 other people, and that's an exaggeration, but we'll just use it, have applied for the same job. Do you know what the real problem the person interviewing has? It's not, "How do I fill this job?" It's, "How do I hire the right person who doesn't cost my company more money than it should and I don't look like a fool because they didn't work out?" Right? So how do you solve that problem? I got an idea for you. You know what? You look like you got a lot of folks you got to figure out. I'm so sure I can solve the problem for you. Pick one, pick your biggest problem. Give me 2 weeks. Put me on a contract basis. I'll solve that problem. Take the risk out of the way. You're in sales. You're selling yourself. Sell that risk out of there. "I can solve your problem." Clever lines. Anybody here repair computers? Good. So I can— oh, there we go. I know a guy in Florida. His line is, "I fix broken windows." You do what? Yeah, I'm a computer guy. I fix broken Windows. Right? Think of a clever line about your area of expertise. Say something that's clever that gets people to say— because what your goal is, is when you're in the grocery store, you're at the line at the mall, whatever the case may be, hey, I do this, and they go, what? Exactly. That's what I wanted. I want them to ask me how do I do that. So use something, come up with something that's clever for you. If you need help with this, I'll have a, we're reworking the website to put this video on it as soon as we're done, and then right next to or right around this video, there'll be an elevator speech builder, little link, and if you click on that, I'll help you with your elevator speech. Just send it to me and I'll be happy to help you with it. The Big Bang. How many of you believe in the Big Bang Theory? Nobody. Well, we got one. Okay, but I believe in the Big Bang Theory when it comes to introducing yourself. You know how it goes? It goes bang, here I am. Wark, wark, wark, wark, wark, wark, wark, wark, bang, there I was. Because what you want to do is you want people to remember the beginning and the end. You want them to— you want to startle them out of their consciousness into yours to listen to you, and then when you leave, you want to leave them with something that makes them remember you. Remember, tell people something important right away. Leave them with something they can't forget. This is the easiest one of all. These are all techniques you can use, by the way. You ought to be using them today. This is the easiest one of all. Anybody in here a plumber? So, let's pick something here. Have you ever come home and found your basement was flooded right next to the hot water heater. I help people with that. Who is that person? A plumber, right? Have you ever wanted to improve the driveway at your house? I lay concrete. Have you ever thought that you could make more money in less time if you just invested it wisely? Who am I? I'm a financial advisor or an investment broker of some sort. What is it that you can say to people that resonates with what they've experienced before in life? Have you ever been late on your taxes? I'm a tax accountant. Have you ever been arrested? I'm a lawyer or a bail bondsman, right? And you don't have to say, "Have you ever?" "Have you or anyone you know ever?" Because most people will then go, "Well, it wasn't me, thank goodness, but yeah, I know somebody who went through that." Give— think about what you do and think about how you can say it in a way that you can say, "Have you ever?" and people will know what you've done. I've got to tell you, I told you that I had a quick little thing about the men. Yesterday I had the pleasure of listening to a lady, her name's Anita Renfrow. Look her up on YouTube, she's a hoot, and she's got great stuff too. But she said something that startled me. She said that men utter 25,000 words a day. Whew. And men, you know what else she said? She said ladies utter 75,000. We know that's true, right? 75,000 words. Eh, meh, meh, meh, meh. You know why ladies utter 3 times the amount of words as men? Because they repeat themselves 3 times to us. That's why. She delivers that joke a lot better than I do, but it's a fact. We don't listen real good, OK? Because men are very much more centered on small— on very few things, but going very deep into them. Ladies are extremely interested in a broad spectrum of ideas. That's why women can have a conversation about 3 things with 2 different people and know exactly what's going on, and men are going, "Huh?" Right? I mean, actually, you're lucky if we're going, "Huh?" We're not even listening. We're over here going, "So, I wonder what I'm gonna eat next." You know, so, I mean, it's a fact, okay? Women are able to do that, but here's your challenge. This is why I tell this story. You see, whatever you do, whoever you do it for, or whomever you want to do it for, You're gonna have to tell people over and over and over again. And so one of my favorite things is— as a matter of fact, I won't even show it yet. I'll see if you know. How many of you have ever read— I mean, this is what I do in life. How many of you have ever read the back of a shampoo bottle? Yeah, one, two. They put stuff on there for people like us. Okay? You have any idea what it says on the back of a shampoo bottle other than, you know, polysorbate 80 and whatever other words you can't even pronounce. There's actually, believe it or not, I know it'll sound crazy, but there are instructions on the back of a shampoo bottle. As if. Right? Somebody ought to have given me instructions for a comb today, right? But the instructions are— does anybody know what the instructions are on the back of a shampoo bottle? What are they? Lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat. Do you know there's a story that says that the guy that came up with the third line— third word in that line got very, very rich very, very fast? It used to just say lather, rinse according to the folklore. I don't know if it's true or not. They nearly doubled their sales because people like me read the back. Oh. Oh, okay, I've been doing this all wrong. Third time around, right? But the point is this, the point is this. You have to remind people over and over and over and over about what you do. Have you— I mean, here's a great example. Have you ever talked to somebody and they go, oh gosh, I just met so-and-so, the guy you wanted to meet. I forgot to tell him about you. I'll send him an email. People forget. Your family forgets. Every day this is your task. Every day you wake up, you put on your uniform, whatever that uniform is that says, "I'm going to get a job and people are going to pay for this." In that uniform you walk out the door. That's step number 2. You gotta get out. And you go meet people. And as you meet people you tell them over and over and over again the exact same thing. You remember in the beginning I said, that, "What's in your wallet?" Aren't we tired of that one? There's a reason they keep telling us that, because we're remembering Capital One every single day. You're gonna have to get to the point where you're sick of hearing what you do. You're sick of hearing your tagline. You're sick of hearing what it is that you can do for somebody else that nobody else can. And when you get to that point, I promise you, you'll have to stop saying it because you're gonna be having a job. So I hope this is helpful. I, like I said, I will have a resource on my website. It's Glen Gould, G-L-E-N-G-O-U-L-D, dot net. You'll see this video and next to it or near it, because I don't do the web stuff, there'll be a button there where you can click and it'll say elevator speech builder or job seeker speech builder, something like that, and if you click on there and submit what you say to people, I'll go back over it and I'll edit it and send it back to you with some suggestions. You don't have to use it, but it might give you some ideas that will help, and if there's any way I can help you, I'd love to. Just go to my website and you can email me through there. Thanks so much for listening this morning.
