I’m flying back to the ATL today and I see this dude getting on the plane in a swimsuit and flip flops. Are you kidding me?

I question myself when I get on a plane not wearing a sportcoat and this idiot is wearing a bathing suit. Come on man, how about a little respect?

It used to be that men would wear suits on the plane, especially if they were flying first-class. Today, I’m feel lucky if the guy sitting next to me is wearing shoes.

So other than writing this as my personal therapy, what does it have to do with sales presentations? A lot, kemosabe, a lot.

How you dress has an impact on how you close.

You see a lot of speakers these days wearing jeans and untucked shirt. While this works for some of them, in environments that they are very well known, it is detrimental to 99% of everyone else.

Wearing a suit and tie when selling from the stage will increase your closing percentage. A suit with a dress shirt and open collar is okay as well but a tie is even more powerful. And “powerful” is the key word.

To persuade and influence effectively, you must be in a position of power and you want to use every symbol at your disposal to project that image of power. I’ll be talking about symbols a lot next week.

One last message to the dude wearing the swimsuit:

Until they install swimming pools on a plane, put on some damn pants.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave “Put on Some Pants” Dee

P.S. I have not tested it but maybe wearing a suit and tie will increase my webinar closing percentage as well. Ha!