Episode 479: Performance-Driven Personal Branding: Communicating Your Value Without Bragging

Cher Jones | 00:00
Making sales social is creating the opportunity to have better conversations, and that’s how you can show up and make it social.

Bob Woods | 00:07
Welcome to the Making Sales Social podcast, featuring the top voices in sales, marketing, and business. Join Brynne Tillman, Stan Robinson Jr., and me, Bob Woods, as we each bring you the best tips and strategies our guests are teaching and using so you can leverage them for your own virtual and social selling. Brynne, welcome to the show.

Brynne Tillman | 00:30
Welcome back to Making Sales Social. I’m Brynne Tillman, and I’m beyond excited to have Cher Jones, who is a keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and the creator of Performance-Driven Personal Branding—a system that helps professionals turn credibility into influence at work. She shows leaders and teams how to communicate their value clearly and confidently so trust builds faster, collaboration strengthens, and performance rises.

Her work has supported organizations like HP, BNY Mellon, and Lockheed Martin, helping experts and teams become visible, respected, and ready to deliver.

Now, I have to say, during the pandemic, I was obsessed with Cher’s show. I was on almost every live that I could, considering I had nothing else to do—but regardless, I’ll take it. It was absolutely, phenomenally brilliant, and I became a very quick fangirl. I’m beyond excited to have her here today. Cher, welcome to the program.

Cher Jones | 01:44
Thank you so much for having me. Brynne, from the sidelines I’ve been cheering you on because I’m equally fangirling over how you’ve shown up, especially within the sales industry. With your knowledge, you’re not just showing up—you’re showing up, showing out, and showing how. That’s what I love about what you’re doing. Your voice and your knowledge are so necessary, especially now. So keep doing what you do.

Brynne Tillman | 02:13
Oh my gosh, back at you, my friend. Everything I read or consume from you has a mic-drop moment. This conversation is way overdue, and I’m so excited we’re here now.

Before we jump into your genius, we ask all of our guests the same first question: What does making sales social mean to you?

Cher Jones | 02:43
It means making yourself trustworthy and showing up in a way that people actually want to have a conversation with you. When you show up, the conversation is either with you or about you, so you’ve got to take charge of that narrative.

For me, making sales social is creating the opportunity to have better conversations. That’s how you show up and make it social.

Brynne Tillman | 03:11
I love that. I love the impact you’re making. You have an incredible reputation in the branding space, but what stood out to me is that you teach how highly capable people often get treated like order takers because others don’t understand their value. When did you realize this was the real challenge inside organizations?

Cher Jones | 03:44
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last four years in the tech space, and that’s where this shows up the most—especially with highly technical leaders and teams. Whether they’re developers or in roles like change management, these are deeply technical positions.

The business mindset hasn’t fully caught up to the fact that technology is now the brick and mortar of business. Businesses aren’t built in rooms or with bricks anymore—they’re built on technology. Yet tech professionals are often only noticed when something breaks or needs to be installed.

They aren’t pulled in at the right strategic moments, even though the business is built on the technology. Instead, they’re called in and asked, “Can you install this?” Meanwhile, the response is often, “Why did you buy this? We already have a tech stack that does this—and it’s not even compliant with how we operate.”

What’s happening is a slow change in understanding that technology professionals are not order takers. They are strategic business partners who help get things done faster. The real problem is that they’re not communicating their value effectively to the audiences they serve.

When people don’t understand what you can do for them, they use their imagination—and that rarely works in your favor. My focus is helping professionals communicate their value, both in person and online, so people understand their relevance in context.

I teach them how to introduce themselves, how to advocate for their work, and how to show up online to build credibility, trust, and influence. This is about a working brand—an everyday brand—not an aspirational “making friends with strangers on the internet” brand. It’s local, experiential, and practical, so people understand what you do, trust you, and know you can help. That’s it in a nutshell.

Brynne Tillman | 06:35
That’s amazing. Every tech person with aspirations of promotion needs this. They’re often overlooked and don’t get the recognition they’ve earned. I don’t know anyone else focused so clearly in this arena, and I can’t think of one that needs it more.

Cher Jones | 07:11
As I mapped out different styles of branding, I noticed a clear distinction. There’s career branding—your next job or promotion. Then there’s social selling, which includes tactics, psychology, and strategy. Then there’s influencer or thought-leadership branding, which focuses on visibility, reach, and selling products.

We’re all in a Venn diagram together, but where I differ is that I focus on the day-to-day brand—the working brand. This is what helps you do your job better so you’re recognized for the skills you bring to the table, asked the right questions in meetings, and invited into the right rooms.

Of course, this work helps you grow your career, but my focus is immediate impact—building trust, credibility, and influence so you can get your work done now and then grow from there. People need to be able to communicate their value on demand.

Brynne Tillman | 09:09
Oh my gosh, Cher. The idea of getting the right projects and being invited to the right meetings—I can’t tell you how many people say, “Why did they do that without even talking to me?”

Cher Jones | 09:25
It’s because they didn’t know. That’s why I call this Performance-Driven Personal Branding. It’s about driving performance. People aren’t thinking about you unless you tell them what to think.

Most people aren’t framing their reputation. They’re not giving others the language to understand where they fit. When you don’t do that, you leave it up to chance.

Brynne Tillman | 10:02
You’ve built a system around Performance-Driven Personal Branding. Can you share a little about that system?

Cher Jones | 10:08
Over the last two years, Gen AI—specifically ChatGPT—completely changed how we see our value in this space. I had to ask myself where I fit now that AI could seemingly do parts of what I do.

What I realized was that AI became a powerful co-creator and thinking partner. But the core of my work—teaching people how to communicate their value—became even more important. That’s the first part of my system.

I teach a skill called value wrapping: how to wrap your value around the situation, the problem, the goals, and the emotions in the room. This is not an elevator pitch. Elevator pitches only work in very specific situations, and most people struggle to deliver them naturally.

Instead, I teach people to communicate their value in context. In technology especially, you may speak to vendors, stakeholders, or executive leaders—each requires a different framing of the same value.

The framework helps you win attention by addressing the problem, reveal what’s relevant in the moment, activate trust, and position the next step. This applies whether you’re introducing yourself, advocating for your team, or creating content.

It’s not a script—it’s an order of revelation. When applied across introductions, conversations, profiles, platforms, connections, and thought leadership, it changes everything. The strategy then adapts to the individual—some need high visibility, others just need a credibility check.

Brynne Tillman | 14:52
Everything is completely tailored to the person, and I love that. We teach messaging and content on LinkedIn, and we always emphasize knowing your audience. Everyone has different goals, and you serve each person differently. I love how you bring that into the real world.

Cher Jones 15:20
Yes. These are the people who are honestly being missed, and they are so integral. Everyone’s job is integral, but if it’s not recognized, it creates a bigger issue. From a business perspective, when you are underusing your talent—when their value is going unrecognized—you risk losing your top talent. They’re not doing their best work. When you undervalue these people, they’re not showing up at their best. When their knowledge and expertise aren’t leveraged at the right time, it can actually cost your company money. They could have circumvented a bad decision or enhanced a good one and made things move faster because they have the talent to make it happen. But the onus still comes back on us as individuals to communicate that value effectively to the people who need to understand how to leverage us.

Brynne Tillman 16:31
That just created an incredible aha moment. Now every wheel in my brain is spinning. This is an investment that a company makes—it’s also about helping them take inventory of the talent they have.

Cher Jones 16:49
Yes. When I work with a team, especially an Agile team with multiple roles functioning together, often the people you work with—even in our login-logout environment—aren’t connecting fully. We don’t even know the depth and breadth of the talent we operate with. One thing I focus on is what I call the “value accelerator,” where the team works together so everyone becomes aware of each other’s hidden credibility. I didn’t know you worked on that project, or you were responsible for that. Now I can advocate for that person, and the strength of the team brand grows. It’s like the rising tide raises all boats—when everyone knows how good your team is, companies invest in talent, and they advocate for each other with confidence.

Confidence is contagious. People often feel wary because they don’t yet know why they should trust you. If you don’t communicate that, and you assume trust, everything goes downhill. You cannot assume trust. You have to let people know why they can trust you—and do it in a way they will hear. This comes back to the ability to context switch: your value has to be wrapped around their problems, or no one will hear you.

Brynne Tillman 18:33
Literally chills. Every time you speak, I am blown away by something new I hear. Amazing. So, bringing this to the sales world—since most of our listeners are in sales—many sellers and leaders fear that talking about their work will sound like bragging. How do you help them communicate their value without it feeling ego-driven?

Cher Jones 19:08
First, address what you think that person needs to know. Connect your experience to that. You are transferring trust by letting them know what you’ve done in the past so they feel more comfortable about what you’ll do for them.

You can say something like, “I understand why you might have reservations because this is a big decision. In fact, when we did a similar project for [Company], they were also nervous. Here’s what we did and what happened.” You’re taking ownership: “When we did this for them, this was the result.” The story walks them through their fear: “I know why you’re afraid, because I’ve seen this before.”

Brynne Tillman 21:04
So they resonate, and you’re creating confidence while sharing expertise without bragging.

Cher Jones 21:10
Exactly. Be specific. Share the win they want. If you’re a consultant, for example, you might say: “In my work, this is the typical response. Here’s what we addressed, and here’s what happened when we did it.” You’re projecting the outcome they want while activating trust. You start by addressing what’s bothering them, reveal what’s most relevant, and share results that matter. Then, you position the next step: “Today, I want to make sure we capture everything you’re concerned about so I can show you how we will deliver.”

Brynne Tillman 22:53
That’s great. I teach something similar for writing content: resonate, create curiosity, teach something new, make them think differently, and create a compelling moment. It aligns perfectly with what you’re saying.

Cher Jones 23:58
Yes, we’re guiding people to be successful in their work. Your structure for content is brilliant—it’s a clear blueprint. At the same time, we’re addressing the buyer, whether in sales or internally: selling your ideas, your strategy, your process.

Brynne Tillman 24:46
Even buying to have you in the room.

Cher Jones 24:50
Exactly. That’s where the branding piece comes in. We must give people language when we aren’t in the room. Most people, especially in corporate spaces, talk about what they did to get the job, not what they do now and the value they provide. Your reputation is raw data—what others experience and perceive. Your brand is the intentional shaping of that narrative, giving people exactly what they need to know.

For example, hearing, “Brynne is awesome” says nothing about what she actually does. Brand gives context: training in what area, achieving what results. It’s also about micro branding moments: when you introduce yourself, establish your role, respect, and credibility in context. Brand isn’t just online; it’s in every interaction. People may ask questions to test you—these are branding opportunities. Drop your value, transfer trust in the moment, and don’t wait until later. Wrap your brand around your reputation.

Brynne Tillman 32:24
I picture reputation, then brand wrapping it—value wrapping.

Cher Jones 32:34
Exactly. Brand must wrap around your reputation.

Brynne Tillman 32:47
How does a leader take inventory of under-leveraged talent?

Cher Jones 33:06
I use a team credibility scorecard. Look at areas where gaps exist:

• Are team members articulating the value of their work and results in meetings? 
• Are they present in the right meetings at the right time—strategy, process-building, implementation? 
• Are they being recognized at senior leadership meetings? 

Leaders also need to communicate their own value and create proof of value, using content as conversation starters—either with you or about you.

Brynne Tillman 35:18
That leads to your future book. Tell us about it.

Cher Jones 35:47
I love the idea of book clubs with teams. The book has been in the making since 2017. The concept came from a Looney Tunes moment: Daffy Duck at a club asking, “And you are…?” It encapsulates the unspoken question people face: “Who are you? Why are you here?”

The book teaches people the art of communicating their value at work, on demand, whether online or in person. It’s practical branding—helping people be recognized, respected, and rewarded. When people are recognized at work, the ripple effect improves their life at home and in relationships. It’s about purpose, seasonality, and service. The book provides systems, strategies, and channels for effectively communicating value.

Brynne Tillman 39:40
So when you’re invited in, you communicate who you are, you get in the club—maybe even VIP.

Cher Jones 40:19
Exactly.

Brynne Tillman 40:57
What questions should I have asked that I didn’t?

Cher Jones 41:01
Honestly, we covered everything—from technical to philosophical. This was a well-rounded conversation.

Brynne Tillman 41:16
How can people hire you?

Cher Jones 41:19
The best place is LinkedIn. Send me a message, and we’ll see if there’s a fit. Let’s start with the connection.

Brynne Tillman 41:31
Let’s start there—making sales social. Thank you so much.

Bob Woods 41:49
Thanks for watching. Join us again for more marketing, sales training, and social selling strategies. Subscribe for the latest episodes from the Making Sales Social Podcast. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and other platforms. Visit our website, socialsaleslink.com, for more information.