Your Verbal and Non-Verbal Styles Need to Match

I needed to investigate some new software so I talked via video with an inside sales rep at a software company. Initially, I wasn't impressed with the rep—he looked a bit disheveled and I assumed he wasn’t going to be very good at software sales—so I watched the clock with the aim of exiting as soon as was politely possible. Ten minutes in, I learned he was at a crossroads in his career and, since I’ll add in my two-cent’s worth on that topic any day of the week, our conversation morphed into a career management coaching session.

In a nutshell, his communication style and sales approach were fantastic—he was completely engaged in finding out about my business and why I needed additional functionality, and he was flawless in walking me through the different options available to me via his company. His perfectly-professional LinkedIn picture, however, was the complete opposite of the person I could see in the video. The L/I picture showed a man in a suit and tie with a tidy hair cut. The man on the call was a few months beyond his last hair cut and his attire was comprised of a baseball cap and the type of shirt you’d see at a tiki-hut beach bar.

I ventured an out-loud guess that he was wearing the baseball cap because he hadn’t had a recent hair cut. Yep…nailed it! My advice was to 1) lose the baseball cap, 2) get a haircut, 3) only ever wear a professional collared, button-down shirt during work hours, and 4) blur the video background so his prospective customers couldn’t see the living room furniture in the background. This sales rep has a fantastic sales approach and he’ll carve out a super career; of that I have no doubt. To make a better first impression, though, he needs to bring his non-verbal style (attire and haircut, in this instance) in line with his professional communication style.

Mark Twain wrote, "Clothes make a [person]. Naked people have little or no influence on society” and “No great title is efficient without clothes to support it.” These notions were accurate in 1905, and they’re still 100% accurate today. Dressing appropriately is a demonstration of your own self-respect, and of the level of respect you hold for your employer, your colleagues, and your customers.‌

I’m not saying you need to pull that moth-balled suit out from the back of the closet…just be cognizant of what you’re wearing. Business is competitive enough without losing ground just because you dressed inappropriately.