Gurus, Ninjas, and Morons: Losing Credibility One Business Card at a Time
Titles matter. A lot. So do email addresses and signature blocks. As unfortunate and as shallow as it is, people make a first impression snap decision about you and your business in an instant. If that instant includes your title it can make or break your business opportunity.
Yes, CxO, Vice President, Director, Manager, Analyst, and other vanilla titles are boring. They’re not edgy. They don’t have panache. That said, they quickly convey a certain level of skill and experience that the majority of the business population can interpret. Your contact isn’t left scratching their head wondering what the heck you do.
Then there’s the other end of the title spectrum: Guru, Ninja, Overlord, Grand Poobah, Super Hero. They sound wicked awesome. They get people’s attention. But you have to realize not all attention is good.
On top of that, these titles are usually paired with a cool signature block quote or catch phrase and they have sweet email addresses too. Unfortunately all of these things can undermine your credibility and cost you business. Here are a few of the biggest mistakes I see people make when it comes to the arena of titles and personal branding:
Your Title is Ridiculous
A few definitions before we start:
– Ridiculous: open to or the subject of ridicule and mocking.
– Ninja: a covert mercenary specializing in the unorthodox methods of war.
– Guru: spiritual master (origin of the term is from eastern religions)
– Super Hero: a fictional character who has abnormal physical or mental powers conferred upon them either through mutation or unfortunate run-in with spiders or toxic waste
Look folks – these names are fun and whimsical. We all know what people mean when they give themselves these titles. The thing is, titles like these follow the nickname rule: you can’t give it to yourself. It’s fine if you’re such an expert that people in the media or other business circles refer to you as a “guru” however going to OvernightPrints.com and putting it on your business card actually devalues your stature with potential customers.
You folks know I abhor titles like guru (and I’ve bashed on it before in this post – CLICK HERE to read it). But I bash on it because it’s hurting your business.
Think about it. Most folks with these titles sell to business customers. Business customers tend to be more conservative and have many choices of suppliers of services. When you come off as amateurish with a title like this, the business goes elsewhere (and yes, I have personally seen business leaders shy away from doing business with people who have titles like these).
The recommendation: find a happy middle ground. Make your title professional. Use the terms like “ninja” or “guru” in marketing materials but not as your official title. It’s probably costing you business. Besides, these titles are so worn out that they don’t mean anything anymore. Don’t believe me? Go do a twitter search for “guru.” If you do, you’ll crash the entire Internet.
Your Signature Block Induces Seizures
Signature blocks convey critical information about you. They tell folks how to contact you and learn more about you. I see tons of people make some of these mistakes:
– Your signature block conveys your entire CV all the way back to being the head of your Boy Scout or Brownies troop
– Your signature block contains cheesy, worn out, cliched quotes
– Your signature block contains sayings from scripture (the only ones who can do this are priests, rabbis, imams, and other religious leaders)
– Your signature block looks like someone hit “engage random font and color generator”
The recommendation: be critical in thinking about what to include. Name, title, phone, email address, and a couple of key URLs is fine. Perhaps even stretch the outer limits and promote ONE thing you really want people to look at. Some color or font fanciness is fine as long as it’s consistent with your brand and not overwhelming or distracting. Simplify. Be purposeful on what you include and how you include it. Remember – all your signature block is designed to do is get people to call/email you back to engage your services. It is not a product brochure.
Your Email Address Lacks Credibility
Having an email address of “[email protected]” can seem edgy and start-uppy. What it tells business clients is “there are 3-4 people running this thing because there’s no overlap of first names therefore I don’t want to work with such a tiny supplier/partner.” Yes. Their thoughts go there.
The other email variant is “[email protected]” As much as you want to put a cool title as your email address, it’s self-defeating. People meet a lot of people these days. People remember names and faces – NOT titles. While your email address is memorable in this case, it’s for all the wrong reasons. “Who was that guy with the weird email address again? I can’t remember his name…”
The recommendation: look at your email address through your customer’s eyes. What impression does it give? Try making sure it identifies you as an individual and that it lets people know you’re serious and professional about your work.
Boring is the New Cool
Yes, all the advice I’m giving seems like I’m telling you to be more boring. You can take it that way if you like. All I know is if being boring helps grow your business… well… that’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?
What do you folks think? Share the worst/most ridiculous titles, email addresses, or signature block stories you have in the comments below!
– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC
Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a couple of emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog delivered to your inbox every week!
Photo: Ninja_11 by Jeyhun Pashayev
Dead on and well stated.
True. But what if you’re “only” an assistant and that’s your title – even though you have some serious responsibilities? I have the problem to get what I need from different contacts since I’m not the “desicion maker”. And it’s really annoying having to ask my manager for help – “oh now the boss writes me, I really need to send this info”..
What would/could an alternative title be?
@Irla – I understand your frustration. Perhaps “Executive Assistant” can help. I’ve also seen “Executive Assistant to Johnny Bigshot” where the boss’s name is included in the title so people know who they’re messing with. I’d also encourage you to examine the nature of the requests and channel of communication (it’s easy to ignore an email but phone calls or in-person drop ins are much harder to ignore). Hope that helps.
/scrambles off to remove “Galactic Overlord Supreme of E-Commerce” from all marketing collateral.
@Donna – thing is, Muhammad Ali actually proved it in the ring. When someone is a self-declared ninja with 1,000 twitter followers, it’s kinda hard to believe. Brogan? He’s a ninja (but if you notice, *he* doesn’t say that… the rest of us do). It’s fine for people to toot their own horn. All I’m pointing out is they might not realize it’s costing them business.
I disagree. There’s nothing wrong with tooting your own horn. If you’re the self-proclaimed “Ninja of Email Marketing” who are we to disagree?
Who was it? Oh, it was Muhammad Ali that said, “I am the greatest boxer of all time!” He believed it, and so did everyone else.
@Elijah – if the “product” you’re selling is you (like being a speaker or author) I think it makes sense. The product is aligned with the brand which is aligned with the URL. It also works if you’re an artist or designer and use that for your portfolio (again – you are the brand) or for your resume (because again, you are the product). Other than that I suggest finding a brand and corresponding URL that links to that brand. Make sense?
I’ve found that resumes with generic titles can sometimes be detrimental. If your title is Administrative Assistant a reader of a resume may just assume they understand that title and not spend so much time checking out the details of what that job entailed. Sometime having a catchier title gets the reader to say “what is that?” and take a 2nd look.
I agree claiming to be a ninja might be too far – but a little professional creativity with a job title can be the deciding factor between just another resume and getting that phone interview.
Okay, I’m with you. So what’s your take on personal URLs? – [email protected]
First: Nate….you can keep that title….overlord suits you. Second: I fully agree BUT what will I do to get thru the day! The jocularity attached to those ridiculous titles make my day when I come across…almost every day! My favorite of late…JEDI Master in Sales. Can anyone take you serious when your biz card or Linkedin title announces that you prize hilarity over business sense? C’mon people!
I agree you! Do you think Gmail (or the like) email addresses are acceptable now? I think a lot of entrepreneurs were trying to avoid the use of free email accounts because they seemed unprofessional. Now, I think it’s better than going with [email protected]. It seems more honest.
@Laurinda – I suggest having your own company domain and site (and corresponding email). A domain costs $12.99 and you can get a decent website for less than $1,000 (and that rate gets lower every day). I think the gmail address can come across as “I’m not really ready to commit a little money to creating a web presence for myself so I’ll go with this free stuff and try out this entrepreneur thingy.” My 0.02.
@TCW – I agree. The world is in a sad state at times. I’m just trying to help fix it. My guess is if you’re shocked by how prevalent this kind of stupidity is, you likely don’t have a twitter account and/or you’re not having vendors come to you pitching their wares very often. I also suggest taking a look at how Gen Y is approaching the workplace – for many in that generation, these titles are not seen as moronic and they don’t appreciate the implications of this approach.
@TCW – no offense taken at all and I didn’t read it as bashing. I agree it should all be self-evident. So either “professionals” growing up now are clowns or our parenting and leadership skills suck for not having taught them better. I actually believe it’s a combination of the two.
Candidly I love seeing those stupid titles. It cracks me up and helps me narrow the field of suppliers to choose from… Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Really… really? What’s the world coming to when it becomes necessary to write an article telling people in business not to give themselves moronic business titles? I guess my take is that if someone isn’t smart enough or mature enough to know what is or isn’t acceptable then they deserve to find out at their own expense…
Wouldn’t being a ninja of anything business related be bad. After all a ninja is not suppose to be seen or heard. Really, the only thing they have going for them is execution without presence lol.
But I wouldn’t oppose someone who uses wizard in their title. Because wizards are serious business and they have magic so I am sure with a wizard I am in good hands. Gandalf the universal insurance sage, wizard,and druid/ B.A. has one serious ring to it lol.
Mike,
My apologies – I didn’t mean my comment to bash you for writing the article, I just think it’s a shame you needed to. Some things should be self-evident regardless of one’s generation. We all approach the workplace differntly than we did 20 years ago, but how can anyone expect to be taken seriously if their card reads; Sales Guru or Procurement Ninja? Just writing that makes me chuckle – sorry, don’t mean to offend anyone…
Mike,
Great thoughts, and I appreciate the diversity in the comments section here. It’s all about perspective and how you plan to use the title/domain as well.
For example, for selling my own ‘brand’ (when speaking to folks who might be potential personal business relationships), I tend to use my ‘[email protected]’ (and blog.mashedpotatotech.com) addresses. I’ve found that these are memorable enough without coming across as ‘cartoonish’ (usually people remember the domain and are curious).
However, for professional correspondence outside of my corporate email, I tend to stick with the fairly generic @gmail.com address with first, middle, last name.
Knowing your audience I think helps determine how you segment your personal brand, but even on the completely personal side, I agree that you need to stay away from things that make you look naive, clueless, or just plain arrogant.
Worst title I ever read on a business card… Chief Attention Getter. I wondered whether he was given to tantrums.
Latest laugh-out-loud business title? “Professional Ignitor” – I went to so many places with that one…
The worst I have seen on a business card title was head toilet washer…..and it was the owner of a tire stores card.
I almost fell into this trap once when starting my company. After careful thought and consideration, I realized it was stupid and went with “Partner”.
Glad to see I’m not alone on this.