Casual doesn’t cut it in sales or brain surgery.
It’s your choice whether you dress for business like you are in business, or like you are a contestant on American Idol or on Entertainment Tonight. You might consider that you could be doing harm to yourself because of how others perceive you. It is an undisputable fact in human behavior that, one cannot perform in a manner that is inconsistent with how one sees themselves. In other words, if you dress casual, you will not only see yourself as casual, but you will perform in a casual manner.
How you dress impacts on how others see you and how you see yourself! If you’re a plumber it makes sense to dress like a plumber. That works out okay for everyone. But if one is a business person and one dresses like a plumber – management, your colleagues and your customers will see you as a plumber.
To be a great actor, one must “get into” their role. The actor must see them self as the character they’re playing. Charlie Sheen makes the news for his off camera behavior. Charlie Sheen is known for portraying a certain type of character, but off the screen, Charlie continues to play those characters in his personal life. The line blurs with Charlie in his mind between acting and how he lives his life. There isn’t any difference.
A thirty seven year old man came to see me at my hypnotherapy practice in Atlanta. He wanted an important position in his company. He just couldn’t understand why he and his ideas weren’t being taken seriously by the senior management . I asked him “what kind of work do you do.” Are you an engineer or a technician?” I was surprised when he informed me that he was in sales but he wanted to be a liaison between his company and “C” level executives with his company’s clients.
I asked him “is today your day off?” He replied he had come from work and was returning to his office. I asked him “is the way you’re dressed today your typical work attire?” He replied “Is there something wrong with it?” I asked him why at the age of thirty seven; he wore his hair in a spike hair do with a hint of fire engine red coloring on one side, sneakers, jeans and a golf shirt. He said” he had the right to dress however he wanted.” I agreed that he did have this right, but his appearance was such, that he looked like he should be working on his company’s loading dock not the executive suites. “If the CEO of your company doesn’t dress the way you do for work, why should you?” He responded that “he wanted to be cool.” He was clueless as to how to dress for business. Why would management want to trust his judgment with their clients when his judgment showed he didn’t know how to dress for business? He did not want to look the part, and since he was unwilling to change… he never got the promotion. He did get to continue making his statement, whatever that was, to the world though.
Another man of about forty two years of age, wanted to “change the direction of his life.” He was dressed very casually and had a scraggily Scooby Doo beard. He slumped in the chair and I asked him “in what way do you want to change your life?” He replied “I want something in management in my company and I would like to date sophisticated women.” I advised him “try dressing for business and you’ll notice a marked difference in how management treats you and also in your social performance.”
Performance is based on how people see themselves. When they see themselves as casual, they perform in a casual manner. Most people when they relax wear casual clothing. Again… one cannot perform in a manner that is inconsistent with how one sees themselves.
Does a man that’s between jobs, and sits around in his undershirt, shorts, a three day beard and flip flops see himself as a powerful man in business or someone that’s unemployed?
Haven’t you noticed that man or woman that is impeccably groomed and appropriately attired for their career and position, is also always on time, is also well organized, well spoken and in control of themselves?
If one’s results in business and sales are less than one desires, one might consider re inventing themselves, not just in how they dress, but in life. If that is the case, give me a call and we will help you with all of the components that you will need to succeed!