No discussion of attraction between people would be complete without touching on physical appearance. When it comes to how you look, people really do judge a book by its cover.
In a Journal of Personality and Social Psychology study by Dion, Berscheid and Walster (1972), they found that people who viewed pictures of men and women representing several levels of attractiveness rated the more attractive people as being more kind, outgoing, modest, sensitive, sociable, and interesting.
They also believed the more attractive people had better jobs, better marriages, and better lives. These results demonstrate our strong bias toward beauty and the stereotypical beliefs we ascribe to more attractive individuals.
For us the message is clear, it pays to look our best when we are presenting ourselves. I’m not saying to go and get plastic surgery, just to present yourself as well as you can because people are going to judge you immediately on how you look and how you are dressed. It Is much better to be overdressed than underdressed.
It also means our marketing materials that are representing us also should look sharp, consistent and professional.
Just as the principles of Similarity, Reciprocity, Proximity, Familiarity and Physical Appearance are relevant in our friendships and personal lives, if we want a chance at becoming a Trusted Advisor to our clients, we need to apply these same principles to every aspect of our business.