People get their impression of your attitude from your appearance.  I believe that can be good or bad.  A manager who thinks you appear aggressive might automatically perceive that you are that way to clients also.  Likewise, a manager who thinks that you have a conflict problem might think that will show on a sales call as well.

Most often we are talking about good or bad attitudes. It might be said, “Jim has the best attitude of anyone I’ve ever seen.” It might also be said, “Chris has a God awful attitude and does not show well!” Let’s define attitude and go from there.

Attitude – 1. Manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc with regard to a person; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind; a negative attitude; group attitudes.

Attitude – 2. Position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion, etc.: a threatening attitude; a relaxed attitude…

From dictionary.com.  Click attitude to take you there.

This is interesting, as we are talking about the second meanings of attitude in.  For the purpose of this journal we are using to attitude as a trait normally associated in the negative sense, and speaking of what an employer or customer is able to see regarding the position or posture of your body, your facial expressions, and gestures.  Gestures like rolling the eyes or leaning over in an aggressive manner, as well as appearing relaxed and confident are all displays of posture and deportment that can enhance or can doom a managerial or a customer relationship.

Lose the Display

Customers, and even managers, judge your reactions from the faces and gestures you make.  You probably are expert in reading the expressions and gestures your customers make; someone is reading your negative display as well.

After being told that you did not get the business, but your pricing and program was very good you might feel cynical, believing that your price was shared with the competition.  Rather than show the attitude, just professionally ask the customer the question!  You may doubt honesty, but I don’t see anything wrong with asking in a professional manner.  You might say, “My team worked hard on our numbers and we did it without any knowledge of the competition.  Were we were all on even ground in that regard?”

That is far superior to rolling your eyes or other facial gestures that we acquaint with the word ‘attitude’.  It is also honest.  Obviously, it is even more important to ask the most important question before hand regarding how the bid/quote process will be handled.

It is very difficult to mask how you feel about something over a long period of time.   A roll of the eyes, or a quick smirk will give you away at some point.  It is even more difficult when you feel that you are new or racially different than the other sales professionals.  Any display that is negative will be interpreted as a display of a ‘bad’ attitude.

Keep the Edge

So a quick analysis tells us that sometimes the attitude is present because you have an ‘edge’. This edge is your sharp point…what drives you!

My edge was always to prove that I could sell in a market that was not always friendly to minorities.  I guess that I could also say that my other edge was survival as I was raising three small children.

It presses you and often gives you a positive impetus because of the amount of effort you will put into a venture.

Your edge presses you to:

• Demand and expect equal and fair treatment
• Get answers and assistance to make you successful
• Not accept ‘no’ without good reason
• Be successful

Keep an ‘edge’ for life, but always be in control.  It will serve you well.  Every sales call, every prospecting visit, use that edge to fuel you.  Employers and customers will understand you are driven, even if they do not know why.

Be the professional and always be the best!

Your comments are welcome.