Do you ever wonder if you're dressed most effectively
for that next sales meeting?
The data suggests that prospects actually
make instant judgments about a sales person
which has a massive influence on whether
they're ultimately going to purchase or not.
Having the right appearance for a sales meeting
can actually make a much bigger impact
on the sale's outcome than you might think.
In fact, getting it wrong could put you
at a huge disadvantage in your sales meetings.
In this video, I'm going to show you how
to dress for sales meetings.
Check it out.
Number one, take into account how your prospects dress.
So, this is really, really the most
important point that we can make here.
Which is that, generally you wanna dress
pretty similarly to you prospects.
And so, I'm gonna get into a little more nuance
in just a minute but overall what you wanna first do
is take into account the types of dress
that your prospects typically have.
So, I'll give you two very different examples.
Let's say you sell in the investment banking world.
Now, in the investment banking world
your prospects are going to typically be,
most likely, in suits.
Alright so if you're selling to people
who are very often wearing suits then
that's a really important indicator.
You don't want to be dressed
way more casually than those folks.
On the other hand though, if let's say you sold
to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs or just your typical,
run of the mill homeowner, these people are much more likely
to be dressed very casually.
In fact, I just recently read an article about how
in the Silicon Valley world the person who is
the least well dressed in the room,
the person who's most casual is likely
to be highest up the totem in terms of importance
in an organization.
So, you don't want to show up with those people
and be completely overdressed
because you're going to have a mismatch.
The general rule is that most humans are going
to most likely connect with the person
that most reminds them of themselves.
Now, we wanna take that with a grain of salt
because we don't wanna just dress exactly like our prospects
because in some cases that could make us come off
as unprofessional or could ultimately
lead to some other issues.
But, the most important thing is to first really be focused
on how your prospects are actually dressed.
Number two, disheveled is crushing.
This is actually not so much just about dress
but also just about general appearance.
I see so many sales people, particularly in places
like the trades but even more broadly,
where you'll have a sales person who just probably
never fully took care of the way they looked
and so even at their best day
are still looking really disheveled.
And the challenge that this can bring is
that it essentially exudes a lack of professionalism.
So, we really want to pay attention
to how are others going to be perceiving us?
And if they're going to be perceiving us as disheveled
this can really be problematic.
And so, disheveled could mean that your shoes
are really scuffed up or look bad.
Or your hair is all over the place.
Or you know, your shirt's all wrinkly, right?
These are just little things that have less to do
with the specific overall outfit and more to do
with just the general appearance.
Number three, this is probably the most important rule.
Be better dressed, but not mismatched.
And so, this is plays into the first two ideas here.
Which is that, we typically want to come
in a little bit above our prospect's level of dress.
Now of course, there are limits to that, right?
If you're already selling to people who are in a suit
then you're just going to match them.
You're just gonna wear a suit.
If they're wearing a tie,
you're gonna be wearing a tie as well.
On the lower end which is the much broader spectrum
of who most people are selling to,
if you're selling to let's say that entrepreneur
or that Silicon Valley CEO who is wearing a t-shirt
and jeans and sandals everyday,
you probably don't wanna be showing up
in the t-shirt, and jeans, and sandals.
You wanna come off as just a little bit more well-dressed.
So, that could mean if you're selling to them,
it might mean that you're just wearing a button shirt
and a pair of nice jeans and shoes.
Alright, it's still pretty casual
but it's just a little bit more professional
than the level of casualness that maybe your customer
or your prospect is wearing.
So again, typically a little bit
better dressed but not mismatched.
I find over and over again that when people follow
that general idea what they're going
to find is that they're never going
to be creating problems for themselves.
Being the best dressed person it's not going
to help you close the sale,
but what being appropriately dressed can do
is help you avoid losing a sale
that you might have lost because
of just ultimately turning off a prospect
who felt that you looked unprofessional.
And number four, pay attention to the details.
This is probably my biggest pet peeve
with the way a lot of sales people will dress.
Is that they don't pay attention to the little details
that can really cause them to come off as pretty careless
and thoughtless in the way they dress.
You know, you'll see a lot of tradesmen who will come in
and they'll have a nice company button down shirt
with khakis but then the shirt is untucked
or it's hanging out on one side.
Or you'll have someone who's just wearing
really wrinkled clothing or their shoes
are really scuffed up or really old looking.
And thus as a result the prospect is not necessarily
looking at the specific details on a conscious level,
but on a subconscious level they're just taking
the totality of what they see
and they're making instantaneous judgements.
In fact, the data shows us that a lot of decisions are made
about a complete stranger in the first microseconds,
the first milliseconds, of when they first take
in the whole appearance.
Now, you can't control all of your appearance, right?
We're human, we're all different.
But what you can control is the way
you ultimately put yourself together.
So pay attention to those little details
and notice that what you really don't want is
to really stand out in any way
that would come off as egregiously mismatched.
Number five, in the moment match them in small ways.
This is really one of the most powerful
and really tactical changes that you can make
in terms of your appearance.
And I'll give you an example of how I'm might implement
this in my own selling.
Now, when I go to meet with prospects I literally get
onto a plane and meet with CEOs of companies
to discuss six figure consulting projects.
And I'm always going to show up in suit
even if I think that they're going
to be in jeans and a t-shirt,
which very few of my prospects ever do,
but I always show up in the suit.
What I will do though, is that if a prospect is dressed
very casually I'll take off my coat.
And if they're really casual I may even take off my coat
and roll up my sleeve and I may even let out a button.
So that way, even though we're dressed in a way
that's not entirely matched I'm going to match them
in small ways in the moment that are going to cause them
to feel a little bit more comfortable.
And so actually, you can get a little bit of both ways
where you get the credit of looking professional
by having worn that suit but at the same time,
then in the moment when you show up you take off the coat,
or you unbutton your sleeves and roll them up,
now you are going to create a better connection
because you're going to appear more similar to them.
By making those little changes to appear more similar
to them you're going to really increase the likelihood
that you ultimately build that trusting connection.
Because big mismatch is always going to be a problem.
And so, even if you didn't show up
with the exact appropriate outfit for them
you can still make some small changes
typically dressing down,
it's obviously hard to dress up, right?
If I'm meeting with a prospect who wears a suit and tie
and I show up in a polo shirt and khakis,
it's very hard to match up to them.
But if I showed up in the suit
and they're more casually dressed
then I can dress down in some smaller ways.
So, there is how to dress for sales meetings.
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