When You Are The Merchandise

Many years ago I worked the sales floor at Bloomingdale’s for a few months, hawking fine china and crystal.

During that time, the corporate office introduced a new dress code requiring employees to wear only black.

In my store, it caused quite the furor on the apparel floors because—not surprisingly—most people selling fashion expect to make their own statement with their clothes.

If black wasn’t your color, you were SOL.

Later, I overheard one of the execs remarking on how professional and uniform it felt having us all in the same color.

I could see their point—wearing all black made employees recede into the background and put the focus on the merchandise.

But here’s the thing.

In the advisory professions, YOU are the merchandise.

Looking like everyone else isn’t going to sell your services and products.

Yes, your emphasis is on making your client the hero so they can see what your brand of transformation looks like.

But that doesn’t mean fading into the background. In fact, it requires the opposite: boldly standing in your brand of authority.

So take a look at your positioning and your website and ask yourself: Have I truly differentiated myself from all the others in my space?

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