The man sitting opposite me was dressed in white Chinos
and a very bright bold patterned short sleeved shirt. I wasn’t in Hawaii or on
the film set of Hawaii Five-0. I was at a BNI meeting, and before you ask, no
there wasn’t anything special happening at the chapter that morning.
However, what I did know was that this particular member
wasn’t getting many referrals. I listened to his 60 Seconds and I have to admit
that it was very good; even had a great memory hook. So what might his problem
be?
Now many of us spend a fair amount of time working on
what we are going to say but do we spend as much time, proportionally, on how
we will say those words and how we will look while presenting them? Now there
have been many studies on this sort of thing (Albert Mehrabian 7% mentioned in
our workshops) and I think that image is part of this member’s problem. You see
he is an IFA, and, like it or not, we all have an impression of what, we think,
an IFA should look like. To most an IFA should be suited and booted.
Now I know this member is great at his job but, because
of the way he chooses to dress, he doesn’t get as many opportunities as he
should do to prove it. An IFA should be serious - not a fun, relaxed type of
guy!
So, how much time to you spend thinking about how you
look? Do you even think about how you look?
Think of your BNI chapter as your biggest client. How
would you look if you were meeting your best client (it should be the same for
all of your clients)? This is how you should look at every chapter meeting.
Okay now you have some great words to say and you look
the part. Now – how are you going to say them?
