04.18.08
Professional Profiles Filled with Dishonesty? Why the Truth Is So Important to Your Business
Professional Profiles Filled with Dishonesty? Why the Truth Is So Important to Your Business
By Anita Bruton
If there is one all important thought to keep in mind as you write your professional business profile it is honesty. Always be honest when you are writing your business or professional profile. Dishonesty will only come back to haunt you. Three tips to honesty in your biography (or profile) as I like to call it are:
Be truthful. Trying to be something you aren’t simply doesn’t work. You may attract the client’s attention, but the truth always comes out, and when it does, it isn’t pretty. It just isn’t going to be good for your image or your bottom line or your reputation. You will be much more credible in the eyes of your potential clients when you are truthful with them.
Don’t Embellish. You may think that embellishment is the same thing as being dishonest. It isn’t. Embellishing is the act of trying to make yourself look better by going beyond the reality of whom you are and who your company is. Never say something that you can’t back up. Don’t tell your potential clients that you have a master’s degree when you actually have a bachelor’s degree.
Reflect on who you are. You are creating a marketing message designed to invite your readers to do business with you. The product or service, which is part of you and your business, has strengths and weaknesses. Your goal in writing your biography or profile is to articulate a clear honest and compelling message that is appealing to you potential client, employee, lender, vendor, or other reader of your profile. Deceiving your potential clients by embellishing the truth or outright lies isn’t about to establish yourself as a credible resource.
Develop stories about the challenges you have faced, the lessons you have learned and the achievements you have reached throughout your career and life
Take the example of a well know chef with his own cooking show on the Food Network. This man claimed on his resume to have cooked for the Royal family, and various U.S. Presidents. After four years the truth was finally revealed, the Food Network canceled the popular chef’s contract and at the end of this season will no longer air the show. All because he exaggerated the truth on his resume.
Now this is an example of an exaggerated resume, which is not exactly the same as your professional biography, but the idea is the same. Make sure you can back up what you are revealing about your experience and education. What do you think will happen if your clients find out you have been less than honest with them about your past? Do you think they will trust you when it comes time to performing the services they hired you for? Not hardly.
When you use truthful stories in your biography, you will appeal to the hearts of your potential clients. You have no reason to embellish or to be dishonest in your profile or biography and if you do, it will only come back to hurt you. Don’t take the chance of losing your credibility just because you want to come across stronger or more qualified in your professional or business biography.
These are just a few considerations to keep in mind as you write your professional profile
You are invited to learn more about writing your company profile at my website: http://anitaspen.com - Download your complimentary copy of my latest report: “Top Tips to Writing Company and Personal Profiles: 20 Do’s and Don’ts to Creating a Powerful and Influential Marketing Tool”. This report is sure to help you as you write your profile, whether it be personal or for your company.
Anita Bruton is a professional freelance writer and entrepreneur specializing in assisting entrepreneurs and executives, locally based service providers and established small to midsize businesses to compile their personal and company profiles, creating a highly influential marketing tool. Having been a freelanced home based entrepreneur since 2003, Anita knows what is involved in starting and developing a business.
Anita is passionate about helping women become successful entrepreneurs and is on the Board of Directors as the Event Director for the WBO, Women Business Owners (www.womenbizowners.org).
