Episode 632: Maximizing Your Professional Image / 第632集：最大限度地提升你的專業形象
第632集：最大限度地提升你的專業形象
- 穿著打扮，就像你在和你最好的客戶見面一樣。 (請聽第577集，了解當你不這樣做時，會發生什麼事情。)穿得比你的聽眾水平高或略高於聽眾的水平。
- 你在會議中的表現，就是別人認為你在業務上的表現。在會議中要集中精力，在開放的交流會中要平易近人、友好。
- 要真實、專業。不要講不恰當的笑話。
- 永遠要考慮你的著裝、行為和態度（DBA）。如果Misner博士明天來你們的分會，你還會像以前一樣穿著打扮、行為舉止一樣嗎？
第632集完整記錄
Episode 632: Maximizing Your Professional Image
Image and etiquette consultant Tia Young from the BNI Overachievers (Land O’ Lakes) chapter joins Dr. Misner to share her tips for maximizing your professional image in BNI.
- Dress as if you’re meeting with your best client. (Listen to Episode 577 to find out what happens when you don’t.) Dress at or slightly above the level of your audience.
- The way you behave at the meeting is the way others believe you behave in your business. Focus during the meeting and be approachable and friendly during open networking.
- Be authentic and professional. Don’t tell inappropriate jokes.
- Always consider your Dress, Behavior, and Attitudes (DBA). If Dr. Misner were to visit your chapter tomorrow, would you still dress the same and act the same?
Don’t give other members unsolicited advice about how their Dress, Behavior, and Attitudes are affecting their professional image, especially during a meeting. If another member asks, or you’ve reached a stage of trust, be tactful.
For more tips on etiquette and image, visit Tia’s website at https://www.tampaetiquette.com/.
Complete Transcript of Episode 632
Priscilla:
Hello and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast. I’m Priscilla Rice and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.
Hello, Ivan. How are you today?
Ivan:
I’m doing fantastic. I’m in Austin, TX this week. I’m preparing to go to the International BNI Convention, which is always an amazing experience, and I’ll be there next week.
I have another guest this week. Her name is, Tia Young. Tia is the Founder of Tia Young Image and Etiquette and since 2002 she’s helped clients learn soft skills for success by providing professional development in etiquette training. She’s a member of the BNI Overachievers Chapter in Land O’Lakes, FL and serves as a Director Consultant in one of the Florida core regions. She just published her first book- Tia, congratulations or our condolences, whichever are in order. I say condolences because the easy part is writing the book, but the hard part is selling the book and that’s where the hard work comes in. Tia just did a book called “How To Navigate Premium Experiences With Confidence: Your Guidance to Social Success.”
Tia, welcome to BNI Podcast.
Tia:
Thank you so much, Dr. Misner. I’m so happy to be here.
Ivan:
It’s a pleasure having you, and Tia, please call me Ivan. It is great to have you here. There’s a few talking points that I’m going to run by you and we’d love to hear this. The first point is regarding dress and attire. I’m sure that that’s regarding the dress that you wear and what you wear to a meeting and how that relates to a perception that other people have about your professionalism, tell us about that.
Tia:
Yes, I truly believe that your dress and attire and the way you dress at a meeting is directly related to how others perceive your professionalism in your business. You want to dress as if you’re meeting your best client. I love the quote “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” So not only do we want to dress professionally at the meetings, but we want the chapter to have that first impression of being welcoming, also. Having appropriate attire, meaning look like you care about what you’re wearing. We want to make sure that we’re appropriately dressed. For men, that might be a button down shirt or a polo shirt with flags. For a lady, a dress or slacks, appropriate hair, makeup and jewelry.
Ivan:
So we did an episode on this, related to this episode 577 called “I wasn’t referable” and it was Meaghan Chitwood’s story, did you hear that one, Tia?
Tia:
Yes, I did. I loved it!
Ivan:
It’s a great story and I recommend that if you have t heard it, that you go back and listen to it after this podcast because this is exactly what Tia is talking about. Somebody who attends a meeting and wasn’t dressed as professionally as she should’ve been for a BNI group. You certainly don’t have too be in a tux to come to a BNI meeting, but you do need to dress appropriately. You know, Tia, I have a plan/belief that when I speak to an audience I dress at or just above my audience, never below my audience. So if I am doing a large event, I may dress in a suit and tie which would be at the level of above the level as most of my audience. If I’m at a more casual event like if I’m speaking at BNI in Hawaii or certain Latin American areas, I might wear just a sport coat with no tie and that’s at or above my audience. So would you agree that that’s kind of what you need to do in BNI?
Tia:
Absolutely. You have to know your audience. I’m a former international flight attendant and I’ve traveled all over the world, but when I’d go to different cities and cultures around the world, it might be cold in one area and they might dress differently or I might go to another country where they are more relaxed, so you have to read the audience to know exactly what level to dress at but never lower than what they are dressing.
Ivan:
I remember going to Hawaii for the first time and I was in a three piece suit and they were in Hawaiian shirts, I was probably 2 steps above them. That’s was probably too much, but you know I found that going to BNI in some areas like that, you don’t want to dress too far above them. Yet, if you’re a keynote speaker or representing an organization like I am, you want to dress at least at or above them. I think that’s good advice.
Let’s talk about behavior. The way you behave in a meeting and who it impresses people. Talk to me about that.
Tia:
I truly believe the way you behave at the meeting is directly related to how others perceive you will behave in your business. Your focus and attention in a meeting is very important. If you’re in the corner joking around or making a comment on everything that’s said at the meeting or playing on your phone-
Ivan:
Yes! That’s a big one.
Tia:
Yes it is. I think being approachable, friendly and inviting when it’s open networking time that you’re actually up networking and not just talking to your best friend in the meeting.
Ivan:
Yeah, that’s important. I’ve always said to people, “Perception is reality. It may not be your reality, but my perception is my reality.” So my perception o f your behavior is my reality and I think people need to be more cognizant of that in BNI because they will perceive your behavior based on the things that you are actually doing in the meeting, not just who you are outside that meeting but they have to base it on what they see at the meeting.
When you mentioned people on their telephone, that’s a big one. Would you pull out a telephone and start texting an important client in the middle of the meeting? Of course not.
Tia:
Right. That gives the wrong impression.
Ivan:
It does give the wrong impression in a BNI meeting as well.
So image. What image are you trying to convey? That’s an important topic as well.
Tia:
Absolutely. You want to ask yourself what kind of image are you trying to convey at the meeting and is it working for you? You want to be authentic and professional. So if you’re always on the phone, you could convey that the meeting isn’t important to you. Inappropriate jokes, grammar, your slang or if you’re tired, all of those things are your image. Combined with your behavior, your dress, it all becomes part of your image.
Ivan:
Yeah. Listen, inappropriate jokes have been an issue from day one. You get a group of people together and people just sometimes do that kind of thing. You’ve got to steer away from that in a BNI context or in any business context. It’s a lose-lose behavior. In fact, it’s a neutral-negative behavior. Nobody loves it and people will actually get upset about it.
So how can a member maximize their professional image in BNI?
Tia:
Well, I love acronyms and I loves things that help you remember, so I come up with D.B.A. And it stands for Dress, Behavior and Attitude. Just like a DBA in a checking account, if you want to check yourself- other than when Maeghen Chitwood did the podcast on how other people helped her see her image and improve it, but I want people to look at themselves to see how they can improve. If we were to say, “You’re coming to do a pop-up visit at their chapter.” What what they change?would they still dress the same, behave the same and have the the same image if you were coming to their meeting? So they want to make sure they go that extra mile and be on their best at all times. John Maxwell has a quote, “People May hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” You want to make sure you have a positive attitude, and of course that’s one of the Core Values is having a positive attitude. So D.B.A. Your Dress, your Behavior and your Attitude are the things you should ask yourself if they are serving your profession and your image well.
Ivan:
That’s good stuff. And John Maxwell is absolutely the world’s leading expert on world leadership and we have a good relationship with the Maxwell Organization. I’m glad you quoted him and that’s a great quote from him.
So here’s the last question I have for you before we wrap up. This is a a tough one, Tia. How do you politely tell someone that their attire, behavior or personal image may be hurting their business image?
Tia:
That’s a great question! It’s a tricky one, too, because you don’t tell them. You never want to give unwanted advice. Now, if they ask, then you can give them some advice but make it a criticism sandwich. Things that they are doing well and something they can work on and then finish off with something they are doing well on, also. Just so it’s not too much negativity.
Ivan:
Right! Now I’m going to put you on the spot here because we didn’t talk about this before; Maeghan’s podcast where members sat down with her outside of a meeting and brought the subject up to her, do you think that if there is a relationship and if the person really cares for you, is it okay then that maybe under certain circumstances bring it up?
Tia:
Absolutely! But you have to be at that credibility stage with them in the relationship. They have to be at a relationship where they know, like and trust you to where they can take in that information and make those necessary changes and that’s what Maeghan did.
Ivan:
Yeah, unsolicited advice is rarely welcome, but if there’s a relationship then it’s possible. I think you hit the nail on the head.
Anyone who wants more information on Tia and what she does, go to TampaEtiquette.com. Tia, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.
Tia:
Thank you so much for having me, it’s been a pleasure!
Ivan:
Over to you, Priscilla.
Priscilla:
That’s it for this week. Thank you so much for the information!
This podcast has a new sponsor! Go check out the great content available over at www.IvansInnerCircle.com where Ivan has created a wide array of topics and you’re invited to participate!
Thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to you joining us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.
留言
張貼留言