Create Your Professional Image

Paula Pace

The best laid plans – college, graduate school or MBA can smack into a brick wall at the first corporate social event.

All the technology certifications you can cram onto your resume can fall off the page when you walk through your client's door.

You realize your GPA really doesn't matter when the interview process includes a reception – an opportunity for you to meet the big wigs.

What matters are your social skills; how you interact on a social level with those who will play an important part in your career success.

Take for example the bank president who wanted to get John, his new loan officer, in front of clients as soon as possible. John's first test was a business lunch with one of the bank's good customers. It was a solo event for the new hire and he failed it miserably. The report from the customer: “Your new hire spent more time studying the food on his plate than he did engaging me in conversation”. Final analysis: your new hire needs help in the social department.

Take for example the new salesperson at her first company-sponsored reception. Engaged in a battle of nerves, she reluctantly visited the food table but took only a token of food. The three olives on her plate fell off after only three steps; one positioned itself directly in line with the CFO's shoe. The CFO did step on it, did notice it, looked up and did make eye contact with her. Final analysis: “your new salesperson needs help in the social department.”

Obtaining a degree, a certification or a coveted job is just the first step in surviving the work world. You quickly add experience. You take chances, you get it right, you learn from your mistakes and the experience builds. It is a system that works. Yet when we commit a social gaff – we blow the luncheon or drop an olive – it is remembered in the form of an office joke, an office mantra or if it is serious enough, job loss.

So why do we take social savvy for granted? Toys don't come with batteries, so why do we think employees come with social skills? Just as batteries complete the toy, social skills complete today's professional.

“It's the little things”

Lots of little thing make up the social experience. Consider these statements:

“I had to introduce my manager to the VP of Tech Support for a customer I was courting. I didn't know where to start, plus my manager is female and I wondered if that factored into the introduction. I mumbled through it, but it wasn't very impressive.”

“I took a potential customer to a new gourmet burger restaurant. When our food came, I knew I would never get my mouth around the sandwich. I looked across the table and knew my potential customer was thinking the same thing. It was awkward; I didn't make the sale.”

“I stirred sugar into my tea, but didn't know what to do with the sugar packets. Then I put my spoon down on the white table cloth and watched in horror as a huge brown stain spread out in a circle around it. I wanted to add lemon but I was afraid I'd squirt someone in the eye. In an instant, I'd forgotten what we were talking about”.

We all have horror stories about delicate situations and many books and articles have been written about how to avoid them or how to handle them. Knowing how to act in social situations is a necessary skill for all professionals. But before we talk about how to acquire these skills, we need to identify the guidelines for dealing with the situations above.

First, How to Deal with the Above Dilemmas:

Introductions: Introductions are based on deference so first determine to whom you will show deference. In this example it is the customer. Also note that during the business day, gender is not an issue, so again we defer to the customer. Use the following language:

“Gene, I'd like you to meet Anne Smith, our Technical Support Manager. Anne, this is Gene Brown, Vice President of Technical Support at BigCompany, Inc.”

The Burger Restaurant: Take your customer to a restaurant with which you are familiar; one that will be comfortable for all involved and that will be a good reflection on you and your company.

Sugar and the Tea: Put your tea spoon on the service plate, or if there is no service plate, on your bread or entrée plate. Once a piece of flatware leaves the tablecloth, it never returns. Why? Big tea stains! Do the same with the empty sugar packets and if you want lemon, either cup your hand around the lemon as you squeeze or if the lemon is on a plate, pierce it with a fork before you squeeze to help to contain the juice.

Finally, what about the lunch where conversation was hard to come by? First, stay current with the news. I don't care if you read the paper, watch TV or rely on internet technology, but stay current. Second, as much as possible know your client. Know his or her interests, concerns and needs. In this way you will be able to carry the conversation during lunch, on the golf course or at the United Way volunteer reception.

As for the three olives .. . that one was just too good to tamper with.

Second, The Question Needs to be Asked

How much time do you spend training new hires on products and services and ignore the intricacies of interacting with the client on a personal or a social level?

Everyone knows someone who can enter a room and command attention just by being there. She can engage anyone in conversation. He can tell the best stories to make people laugh and feel comfortable. We may think she or he was born with this ability, but the truth is that they probably had to work hard to perfect this side of their professional skills.

So what are the steps to improving the social side of your sales skills?

1. Identify someone in your office (or outside your office) who has good social skills and watch them. Study their entire sales process and note the social skills they use in their success.

2. Provide Social Leadership training for anyone in your office who interacts with the public. Or, buy a good Social Leadership or Business Protocol book. Then read it.

3. I'll be writing more tips on Social Leadership; watch for them.

Finally, customers want the complete package; they want your knowledge and they want you. Give it to them.

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