Be A Walking Billboard

Article by: Expert Image Consultant, Sandy Dumont
Be a Walking Billboard

Expert Image Consultant Sandy Dumont asks: “Who were you born to be? What does it mean to ‘be yourself’? Were you born to be an anonymous person who is barely noticed when you enter a room? Or someone who is a mover and a shaker—someone who wants to change the world?”

This is the time to size yourself up and decide whether your current wardrobe, makeup, and image send the message that you want them to send. If heads don’t turn when you enter a room, your image isn’t powerful enough.

The way you look reveals how you see yourself and how you feel about yourself. Highly successful people take the time to educate themselves about image skills because they don’t want to risk having an image that is incongruent with their credentials. They see themselves as experts, and they make certain that the image they project announces at a single glance that they are head and shoulders above the competition.

Many people continue to improve their skills and gain invaluable experience over the years, yet their appearance belies this fact because they haven’t updated their look. A dated or “safe” appearance sends the message that your products and services are dated or ordinary. It is very difficult to be objective about oneself, so a great many people sabotage their success by not looking distinctive, and they don’t even know it.

American companies spend large sums of money advertising in magazines and newspapers. There is another way to advertise that is far less expensive, however. The employees of a company are walking advertisements for their firm’s products or services, so they are far more effective “billboards.” Employees are the most valuable commodity a company has. Ultimately, billboards and ads don’t sell products, people do! The way a person looks announces the outcome that potential clients can expect. If a company advertises in print that they are better than the competition, the employees must confirm this and announce it by their appearance, or advertising money will be wasted.

Sadly, each day we all see hoards of people who show up at work announcing that the outcome that can be expected is fraught with carelessness or sloppiness.

They clearly announce that you cannot expect an extraordinary outcome. Others announce “my comfort is more important than pleasing you.”

And now you know the secret to branding—and the secret to attracting clients. Have a product that makes your clients feel special. And to attract clients? Your appearance must announce that you are special so, naturally, you know how to make others have the same specialness. How can you sell it if you don’t own it? Make your goal to look so distinctive and special that you will draw others to you like a magnet. Branding yourself is as simple as that. nn