First, I don’t like having a tie around my neck all of the time either and enjoy dressing down just as much as the next person. But, if you are looking to outdistance the competition and put yourself in a position to win, ALWAYS BE MINDFUL OF DRESSING FOR SUCCESS!
Many years ago, I made a decision that I would rather explain being over-dressed than counted out for being under-dressed. This decision came on the heels of a situation where my boss and I went to negotiate a matter with a client. Neither of us had ever met the client or been to their office, but were told by our operations staff that the client was always dressed casually in jeans. Now, we didn’t wear jeans, but we did go business casual, in dress pants and shirt. When we walked into the office, all of the people we were meeting with were dressed in suit and tie. They had won the negotiation before it even started. I’ve never made that mistake again!
Did You Know?
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That upon meeting you, people form 11 impressions (clean, attractive, credible, knowledgeable, responsive, friendly, helpful, professional, empathetic, courteous, confident and professional) about you in 7 seconds and decide if they like you and will do business with you.
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Your appearance is 55% of your message and that you never get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression.
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Becoming too casual with your customers (or job for that matter) makes you vulnerable to the competition.
So what to do? Well, for starters, as Brian Tracy says, “Dress like a person with a future!” Then:
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Take an honest inventory…have you become too casual or complacent?
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Take a look around…how are the folks who you aspire to be like dressing?
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Develop a personal dress code…how will you dress to achieve the success you desire?
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Invest in your future with an overhaul of your wardrobe!
On your way to success, there are enough hurdles and challenges…don’t let your dress be one of them!
According to a recent Harvard Business Article, retail salespeople who subtly mimic customers’ speech and behavior are more successful at selling (based on an experiment by Céline Jacob of the Université de Bretagne-Sud in France). Among customers who solicited salespeople for information about an MP3 player, 78.8% bought such a product from mimickers, compared with 61.8% from non-mimickers. Additionally, customers who had been mimicked were more positive about the salespeople and the store.
That’s why it is critical to learn DISC (which measures an individual’s observable behavior or “HOW” someone does what they do) and how to identify a person’s behavior style. This is a significant “A” Player ability.
Here are the four behavior styles with links to more detail about improving communications with each of the behavior styles:
- (D) Dominanceis a measure of “How” you respond to problems and challenges.
- A High D: New problems solved quickly, assertively, actively. Gets to the bottom-line quickly.
- A Low D: New problems solved in a controlled, organized way. Thinks before acting.
- (I) Influenceis a measure of “How” you influence others to your point of view.
- A High I: Meets new people in an outgoing, talkative manner. Gregarious and emotional.
- A Low I: Meets new people in a quiet, controlled, reserved manner. Emotionally controlled.
- (S) Steadinessis a measure of “How” you respond to the pace of the environment.
- A High S: Prefers a controlled, deliberate work environment. Values security of situation.
- A Low S: Prefers a flexible, dynamic, changeable environment. Values freedom of expression.
- (C) Conscientiousnessis a measure of “How” you respond to rules and procedures set by others.
- A High C: Likes things done ‘the right way,’ and says, “Rules are made to be followed.”
- A Low C: Works independently of the procedures and says, “Rules are made to be bent or broken.”
Invest the time to learn your behavior style and how to communicate effectively with the other behavior styles. I absolutely agree with the article and believe this investment of time will increase your results by at least 20% and probably much more!
Interested in taking a professional DISC profile and having a debrief with an executive coach? Contact us today and indicate you are interested in learning more about DISC!
Following is an article written by Ron McNutt for the July 2011 issue of The Fordyce Letter. The Fordyce Letter is published monthly for the employment, search, recruiting and personnel placement professional by ERE Media, Inc.
Ok, I confess…I don’t always do what I say I am going to do or follow through on my goals. For that matter, I don’t always write my goals, work from a prioritized task list, or work my plan either. Despite the fact that I have proven time and time again that these practices lead to and ensure my business success. I know that’s shocking, because as an executive coach, I preach these things and am supposed to be above reproach…RIGHT? But the truth is that from time to time, I stop doing what has been working so well and fall into self-defeating behaviors like indecision, procrastination, and avoidance. Why? Honestly, I’m not sure why, except to offer that perhaps it’s due to the cycles of life and business we all go through or as a friend once put it, a tendency to gravitate back to the familiar. Notice I did not say the comfortable. Indecision, procrastination, and avoidance are not comfortable (and typically, the consequences are quite painful), but they are familiar…at least to this executive coach.
Sound familiar? Because, just like you, I’m great at serving my clients, finding them great candidates or encouraging them to set and achieve their goals while holding them accountable to do so. But, as I just disclosed, I am not always so great at doing that for myself. That’s why I have a coach (and yes, he has a coach) and that is why coaching works! My coach not only works with me to set and achieve my goals, determine my priorities, and make plans to achieve my objectives, but he holds me accountable for doing what I said I was going to do. And when I’m in a slump and struggling to get started, he provides the encouragement and guidance to get un-slumped. How about you…to whom do you answer? Who’s holding you accountable? Whether you are the owner of a recruiting firm who is striving to better manage your time, build a better team, or achieve an aggressive sales goal…or you are an individual striving to achieve a personal or career goal, you are more likely to succeed in accomplishing your goals by having regular discussions with someone who holds you accountable for DOING WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO!
So, why am I telling you all of this? No, it is not a deathbed confession, at least I hope not. Actually, I figure some of you might be feeling a little beat up after the first six months of this year, and perhaps you are allowing indecision, procrastination, and avoidance to get the best of you. So, I wanted to offer some ideas to get you back on track and on to your winning ways. Now, the best time to plan for a slump is when you are not in one, so if you are currently on a high, then take some time to decide how you will know when you are in a slump (what the signs will be) and what you will do to get out of the slump as quickly as possible. If however, you find you are already in a slump, then call a time out and reset the clock. Stop beating up on yourself for what you haven’t done this year and feeling overwhelmed by how far you may have fallen behind, set some new goals, and start taking steps to achieve them.
Though a recent informal audit of my business revealed that I typically miss my revenue targets when I am not writing my goals on a regular basis (also substantiated by many of my coaching clients), here is another example of how I overcame indecision and procrastination to get back on track to achieving a goal. I started participating in triathlons in the mid1990’s. In 2009, after not having raced for several years, I decided to get back into racing shape and complete a Half-Ironman Triathlon (a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) that September… specifically, Ironman 70.3 Augusta. In April of that year, though I was slowly losing weight, I was still on the fence about committing to the race, and I was not training consistently. So, how did I get past the indecision, out of the slump and back on track to achieving my goal? I made a decision and then I got into action! It is vitally important that action immediately follow a decision, because the more time between your decision and your action on that decision, the less likely you are to follow through on the decision. In my case, I set a short-term goal to ride 50 miles and run 9 miles by July 1 of that year and made a decision that if I achieved that short-term goal, then I would fully commit to the race. Then, I got into action by committing (to myself and my coach) to bike twice each week and run twice each week between the first part of May and the end of June. Now, I’ll tell you, I did not complete that short-term goal entirely. I easily rode 50 miles, but only ran6. But because of my action to that point and re-igniting my passion for triathlon, I was already committed to making the start line in September. There were a lot of goals achieved en route to the ultimate race goal, including a renewed passion for triathlon, increased fitness, and reduced weight.
Perhaps you’re asking why I was working through a health/fitness goal with my business coach. Though balance in all areas of life is vitally important to overall business success, in this particular case, it was more about committing to my decisions and following through on my goals in general. I have found this to be a key foundation of success. If you are not following through on your goals in one area of your life, it is likely to affect other areas.
So, how are you? Are you following through on your goals this year? Or are you letting indecision, procrastination, and avoidance get the best of you? Want to get back on track and increase your success and rate of goal achievement? Then reestablish some short-term goals and get into action achieving them. Better yet, find someone you trust who has goals of their own to be your confidant, coach, or mentor and ask them to hold you accountable for accomplishing the goals you have set for yourself! Again, you are more likely to succeed in accomplishing your goals by having regular discussions with someone who holds you accountable for DOING WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO! Because if you’re anything like me or most people I know (at least the honest ones), from time to time you WILL find yourself in a slump. The trick is not allowing yourself to stay there for long!
Ron McNutt is Senior Partner and founder of Ron McNutt International, Inc. (RMi) in Charleston, South Carolina. RMi has a primary focus of placing C-level business development, sales and marketing leadership for companies in the Carolinas and Southeast US. Prior to starting his own company, Ron spent nearly 20 years contributing to the success of public and private companies (from start-up to $100 Billion plus in revenue) in the commodity and healthcare industries. Today, Ron focuses his efforts on helping corporate America answer their all important “WHO “and “WHAT” questions. This translates into not only helping hire “critical top talent,” but ensuring through executive coaching they achieve their necessary goals and become a thriving, longtime member of the team! Ron can be reached at 843-628-3953 or ron@ronmcnutt.com.
This is one of the only times you’ll ever hear me encourage negativity, but I want to introduce you to a business strategy that comes from one of my favorite running strategies, “The Negative Split.” The term “negative splitting” refers to running the second half of a race faster than the first. So, in the second half of the year I want to encourage you to make a plan to achieve more than you did in the first half.
How did the first half of the year turn out for you…did you achieve what you set out to at the beginning of 2011? Did you move toward or away from your goals? For me and some of my goals: In business, with regard to revenues and profits, I finished inside of my “goal range”, just short of the “stretch goal” amount I set for myself at the beginning of the year. In the second half of the year, I am confident I can exceed my “stretch goal”. From a personal standpoint, two individual goals centered around weight loss and exercise. I made no significant progress toward my weight loss goal and I was woefully absent with regular exercise. So, going into the second half of the year there is lots of improvement opportunity there.
So what now? Back to the drawing board: What worked?; What didn’t work?; What should I do more of?; What should I do less of?; What should I start doing?; and What should I stop doing?
What will you do to make the remainder of 2011 count? Will you do the things necessary to achieve your goals and make your dreams a reality? One of my favorite Brian Tracy questions is this: “I achieved my goal because I did what?” Obviously the converse of this question is “I didn’t achieve my goal because I didn’t do what?” What are you not doing?
To achieve my business goals in the second half of the year, I will have to continue to maintain the balance between business development and production. This is the tightrope all small businesses walk! I’ll have to be sure that as my production stays strong that I continue the marketing and sales efforts that provided the production in the first place. With regards to achieving my personal health and fitness goals, it will be a matter of making the commitment (setting the goal each day), scheduling the time and finding the right people to hold me accountable for “doing what I say I am going to do!”
How about you…what will you do in the second half of the year to achieve a “Negative Split”? If you haven’t done it already, take some time now to write down your goals and make a plan to achieve them. Zig Ziglar often says “Positive thinking won’t get you everything, but it will sure get you more than negative thinking will.” I would offer a similar statement, “Written goals won’t ensure your goal accomplishment, but will significantly increase the chance of goal achievement!”
Here’s to your “Negative Split” in the second half of 2011! Ron
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but do not quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
—Anonymous
