People buy from you means they will only buy from you if they like you. This assessment of you comes before they buy what you have to offer: ideas, recommendations, products, services etc. Irrespective of the situation you are in – professional, business, social – you have to sell yourself to get to first base with anyone…
Most people don’t realize that the impression they make on other people counts as much if not more than the content of the interaction. You may have heard the phrase “you are the presentation” when the subject of presentation skills comes up. This is so true. If only people who were presenting – like sales people – spent as much time “preparing” themselves as they spent preparing their Powerpoint slides.
How you come across to other people even before you have said your first word is not some fancy “body language” esoteric stuff. The first impression you create matters immensely. So what goes into this preparation to make a good impression? Here are some key things to remember:
Be punctual
Arriving for a meeting or professional engagement 5 minutes late, breathless and apologetic, is not a great way to make an impression. Always try to be 10-15 minutes early. Other than being punctual, you will also have time to settle down and get ready for your meeting.
Dress appropriately
It does count if you’re dressed and groomed appropriately. In order to be viewed as someone who is a competent professional, you have to dress and act like one. You don’t have to be formally dressed if the situation does not require formal dressing but it is not acceptable to go to a work meeting dressed as if you are hanging around at home on a lazy Sunday morning.
Check your grooming
The impression you make is not just based on the way you dress. The kinds of things that will hurt professional relationships and your overall credibility are:
-poorly groomed hands, hair or teeth
-excessive body odor
-too much cologne or perfume
-too much jewelry
-frayed diaries that look like they were borrowed from dad
People work with definite preferences about the kinds of people they wish to deal with and there is no guarantee that you will create a positive impression each time. If you can’t make a positive connection, you can be sure that your audience will put up a wall of resistance. That is the just the way things are. It is human instinct.
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