Believe it or not, I had someone mention to me that a CEO of a major copier company here in the U.S. looks like an “unmade bed”. It was not until I went to a recent outing that I had a chance to meet and greet that person and truth be told, that CEO did resemble an “unmade bed”!
In sales, we are judged by our appearance as soon as we walk in the door and or meet and greet Mr. or Mrs. Right. An “unmade bed” appearance in most cases will limit your chances to kick the can down the road with the prospect or secure an order.
All right, what constitutes an “unmade bed”? Here’s my short list:
- Old worn out shoes with holes in them
- Shoes that are not polished or cleaned
- Un buttoned top collar on your shirt when you’re wearing a tie (I know this first hand, I’m not biggest guy out there however I tout an 18.5-inch and it’s tough to find the right shirt. Well this not finding the right shirt cost me a job many years ago. Ever since then I made sure I had shirts that fit).
- Hair (if you have it)….you might want to think twice about cutting it yourself to save a bucks. If you don’t have the hair you may want to shave the dome and give it a shine.
- Wrinkled pants and shirts (really, I’ve seen some sales people that looked like they slept in the same clothes on the overnight! You need at least 10 pairs of pants and 10 shirts, this way you can alternate them at the cleaners. Wait, why do we call then a “pair” of pants when it’s one article of clothing? I looked this up here.
- Soiled and stained clothes, for those of us that are a mess (and yes that’s me), we may want to think about keeping an extra shirt or tie in the car just in case the inevitable will happen.
- Beard, scruff, shaved, whatever way you like it, just make sure it’s clean, and trimmed.
- Clothes that don’t fit, ever wonder why your ties seem to get shorter and shorter? It’s because your belly is getting bigger and bigger! If it doesn’t fit you need to throw it the heck out and right size yourself!
- Sloppy Shirts, this cab go with the above, sloppy shirts are the ones that always seem to sneak out from the waist of your pants.
I’m sure there’s a few more that I didn’t mention, point of the matter is that we need to present a clean, and professional appearance. This will translate to the prospect that we care about how we look and your appearance will project you and your company are true professionals.
Good selling!
