Put the polish on your new sales year – part 1

I have previously written about ‘putting yourself in another’s shoes’; however, I have never written about actual shoes before. In this post I wanted to raise awareness about our attire and physical presentation as sales and business professionals.

There are two key areas we need to consider:

1. The overall congruence of what we are wearing and how we present
2. The relevance and suitability of what we are wearing and how we present

You may think this topic doesn’t matter much with the broader and more relaxed approach to business attire these days, but it does.

Consciously or not, people are making several decisions on different levels about you when you meet with them: They are assessing whether they can trust you, whether they can connect and relate with you. They are assessing if what you are saying matches the non-verbal signals presented. And they are looking at your physical presentation – the whole package if you will.

They might, for instance, assess whether you seem to take care of yourself. ‘If you don’t even care for yourself, how am I to expect you to take care of me?’ is the assumption people might make.

In a business context they might wonder if you understand them and their industry. For instance, knowingly turning up to a muddy construction site in high heeled shoes and summer dress for a day’s work in the field with a client may prompt doubt about your expertise “in the field”.

We know common sense should prevail in these matters; however, with so many changes in business attire in recent times, it’s probably worth taking a look at some of the common sense practices that never go out of date.

The importance of congruence

As we have written before, our brains are wired to risk, therefore our brains are looking for things that match and things that don’t, so that we can make decisions quickly to protect ourselves from unnecessary danger. When we meet people, and vice versa, our brains are looking for congruence. The brain likes congruence – when everything lines up and makes sense.

In short when it comes to sales and our personal presentation, including our attire, it means everything needs to match or else our prospect or customer will become distracted by the things that do not match.

It may sound trivial on the surface, but incongruence can be a real game changer. For instance, if you meet a man who is wearing a nice suit, his shirt and tie are clean, he’s had a good shave, smells nice, however, his shoes look like he last polished them five years ago, what is going to happen? You are most likely going to be distracted, at best, by the shoes and it could change the way you think about that person.

In short, the shoes are not congruent with the rest of the appearance. This will keep your mind occupied, distracted and might make you wonder what else about this person is just “covering up”.

Now, I’m not talking here about being obsessed with clothing and becoming a ‘peacock’ or a fashionista. However, when considering what you are wearing and what message or impression you would like to leave, the little things do count. It’s those little things, whether we like it or not, that can significantly influence how others perceive us and our overall appearance.

Most important rule: It’s all about cleanliness.

Are your clothes (including shoes) clean, well pressed? How much care did you apply to your body in regards to cleanliness, grooming and a pleasant yet unobtrusive fragrance? Is your briefcase, laptop, phone, car, etc, clean and well kept?

There is nothing more off-putting than being in the presence of someone who appears bedraggled or messy or smells unpleasant. This, by the way, is not just about body odour or bad breath but also about people who insist on spraying half a bottle of perfume or cologne on themselves. Either way, the other person is overwhelmed by their smell, especially in closed quarters. And what about our equipment and clothes? How do they present in terms of cleanliness?

The human brain can take in a lot of information in  very short time – you may not consciously register it but the subconscious will notice the chipped nail polish or the dirty marks around that tie that has not been untied for two years, the frayed edges of your trousers, the dried sweat marks in the armpits of your suit, the shoes that have never been polished since they were bought, or the worn mark on the back of your right shoe and heel that comes from driving your car. These and many other little things are what people see and these could set up cognitive dissonance or incongruence with how you are perceived by your client or prospect.   

As sales professionals, the first thing we need to remember is that we need to build trust. We need to make sure that our customers and prospects feel at ease with us. Anything that causes them to be distracted or make them feel uneasy will make it harder for us to work with them.

I admit I do pay attention to these things and I have found that I am not alone. You think shoes are an issue? Here are some comments from people who pay attention to shoes, ties, belts, hem and necklines, etc. These are their comments from a web chat room about this topic:

In fact a good pair of shoes can you make a cheap suit look good but even a good suit looks cheap if worn with cheap or badly kept shoes.

What is also annoying is the way some guys wear their ties!! What’s that about?? Loosey goosey, the knot looking more like scrambled eggs than a tie. How hard is it to look good and put some effort into: 1) shining shoes, 2) tying a decent looking knot?

Don’t even get me started on belts…sometimes you’ll see a great looking suit, good or decent shoes, and then there’s THE BELT!!! what a nightmare…it seems like its fallen at the seams

Why do some women, usually young women, insist on wearing the neckline of their tops too low? Save it for the nightclub.

My son has informed me that the two things women check out to gauge how well a man looks after themselves are if they have clean well-kept shoes and nails.

I agree. Your shoes are an extension of you and how you conduct yourself. It baffles me how people dress for a job interview these days!

I had three equally qualified candidates for a good job. The young man who had his suit tailored and shoes shined got the job.

The last comment is very telling. You just never know what will get you over the line.

So why risk possible exclusion because you didn’t take the time to keep your shoes in good repair, you didn’t change your shirt or get rid of those white socks before you jumped into your suit, you didn’t remove that chipped nail polish, or take up that hem and so on?

There are good shoe repairers, dressmakers/tailors, manicurists, etc, who can help you keep a clean and well-presented appearance – an investment worth considering!

Next week, I’ll look at the relevance and suitability of your attire depending on the circumstance you find yourself in.

Sue Barrett is a sales expert, business speaker, sales facilitator and entrepreneur. She founded Barrett Consulting to provide sales consulting, training, coaching and assessments.