I want you to give some serious thought to a specific part of your branding: your personality. Not your own, that of your business.

Yes, your business has a personality. If you don’t know what it is, ask your customers. What’s it like to do business with us? Is it fun? Boring? Do we come across as overly eager? Not eager enough? Are we grumpy? Slow? Fast? Easy to work with? I bet you’ve bought from someone in your lifetime who was very difficult to work with. Do you ever want to buy from them again?

This is not a small issue. But it’s one that every growing business has to wrestle with.

When you started your business, every customer dealt with you. Your personality was your business’ personality. Then you hired some help. Odds are, the help became the first person the customer or prospect came into contact with when they called or stopped by. Did you tell them what personality your customers were used to dealing with? If you met each customer with a big smile, and the new help greets them with a terse "may I help you?" you may be in trouble without even knowing it. And the more help you hire, the more your personality can spin out of control.

Done right, personality pervades every aspect of your business. What you say to people and how you say it. How you decorate your facilities. Colors, voices, design and language in your marketing materials reflect your personality. Even the type of vehicles you drive - would your company name look more appropriate on the side of a Prius or a Hummer? Did you give it any thought when you bought company vehicles?

People prefer to buy from human beings they like, and who seem to appreciate their business. They’ll go out of their way to get there, buy unfamiliar brands on their recommendation... even pay more. That’s how important this is.

You need to decide what your personality is going to be, and everyone who works for you has to understand how important it is. You have a personality now, whether it’s intentional or not. It can turn prospects and customers on, or it can turn them off. It’s up to you to take control.