You Are What You Wear

My fourth-grade friend, dressed like a "cool kid," felt like a "cool kid," and was perceived as a super cool fourth grader. Now I'm sure a big part of this was because she simply IS an amazing human being, but even at 10 years old, wearing what felt like "cool kid clothes" was like buying an insurance policy.

You and I both know the secret to her success as a cool fourth grader: she believed she could BE a cool fourth grader based on how we prepped her for it. Her new friends weren't just reacting to her clothes. They were reacting to how she felt in those clothes.

Similarly, dressing in a way that gives you the secret edge to sales isn't just about dressing for your client or to make the best first impression. All of that definitely matters, and I'll get into that in just a moment.

Dressing strategically, whether you're in fourth grade or in your fourth year in business, is about how you appear to your client, but it's also about how you appear to yourself. You're dressing to feel a certain way in order to get a specific result.

Frequently, my clients tell me that they used to do sales calls in whatever they happened to be wearing, but after up-leveling their image, they now get dressed and wear clothes that actually change their mental state. They feel powerful and more confident in their ability to serve their client. It comes across–even when they're talking on the phone.

That's an important thing to remember as you read this book. The way you think about yourself–your self-concept–is driving every result you get both personally and professionally. There are a thousand different ways that you can use your image to increase your bottom line, but the key is to start by dressing for yourself. For your own mental advantage. Your mental edge.

Your Mental Edge

When you put on clothing that makes you feel like you can conquer the world, you gain something that only you can give yourself. It's completely unique to you. It's a mental edge over the way you were even just seconds before you put those clothes on.

Rhonda Rousey, one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's highest paid fighters, does her own hair before every fight. Why is this remarkable? Because she has a team of people dedicated to helping her win. They are responsible for making sure that every possible thing she might need to think about or do is taken care of–including, theoretically, styling her hair. Her job is to rest, fuel her body, and go into the ring and win. But it turns out that a task as unremarkable as doing her own hair is actually one of the most important ways she prepares to win a fight. She does it the same way every time. She always does it alone. And it is the single action that she says transforms her into her fighting mindset. When her fight hair is done, she has her mental edge. She knows she can win.

In 2007, I started my business to help entrepreneurs increase sales simply by up-leveling the way they present themselves. Two years later, I was rolling along with quite a few clients, but my business wasn't growing as quickly as I had hoped. One day, I was talking with success coach David Neagle, my mentor at the time, and he said, "Lee, you always look great, but I'm curious why you dress the way you do."

I had an answer to this. I'd really thought about it. I wanted to dress in an approachable way. I felt that being approachable would be the best way to attract clients. And I wasn't wrong. Approachability is always important. But David then asked if I would dress the same way if I had already achieved the sales results I wanted in my business. The answer was NO. I would have more fun. I would be more badass. I would be quirkier. I would dress more like ME!

I went home and immediately switched to dressing as the "successful me." That same year, I tripled my income.

All I did was change my clothes–and that dramatically changed my income. The real impact was due to the mental edge I instilled in myself. And I know that's exactly why David asked me the question he did, to help me find my edge. To help me have 110% confidence in myself.

I tripled my sales because my own self-concept changed. I knew I could help more people, but I wasn't packaged to stand out. By dressing as the successful me, I was properly merchandised, like Ariat boots. Now, not only was I confident in my abilities, but so was my potential client.

You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression

You've heard a thousand times how important it is to make a good first impression.

But in my experience, your first impression is your first sales opportunity. Everyone you meet may not be a potential client, but they might be, or they might know someone who is. The way you present yourself sets you up for sales success no matter where you go.

Let's start by talking about first impressions. Upon meeting someone for the first time, the impression you make on them is formed in seven seconds. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. That's not a lot of time.

Typically in seven seconds, you haven't even had an opportunity to open your mouth and speak. Research has shown that the impression you make on someone is mostly made up of your appearance and nonverbal cues.

A Harvard study conducted by psychologists Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal rated college professors based on one group of students' first impression, and then another group of students' impression after having them as a professor for an entire semester. The first group only watched 10-second video clips of the professors with no sound in order to form their impression. The second group took their class for an entire semester. The study showed that the first impression made from 10 seconds of silent video created almost the same impression as that gleaned from students who had an entire semester to form an opinion about the professor.

Thin Slicing

Ambady and Rosenthal's study created a term called "thin slicing." It means you make very quick inferences about the state, characteristics, or details of an individual or situation with minimal, or thin slices, of information. Judgments made by thin-slicing are often as accurate–and sometimes more accurate–than judgments made over a long period of time.

Genetically, we are hard-wired to make quick decisions–everything from how much you feel you should trust someone to whether or not to buy a certain house. These decisions are made in a matter of seconds by a type of unconscious thinking called rapid cognition. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an entire book about this called Blink. It's all about the kind of thinking that happens in the blink of an eye. In fact, his entire book was inspired by police officers stopping him because they thought he was someone else.

When Gladwell was asked in an interview about where the idea for Blink came from, this is what he said:

"Believe it or not, it's because I decided, a few...