Politic-O-Pinion

My partner is thinking about doing the real estate thing too and he’s been told similar “this is a very conservative industry, you have to look a certain way” sorts of things. But I think it’s all a matter of which market you’re going for. For myself, for example, I know that realtors in the traditional sense give me a rash. I would kinda love to have a nontraditional realtor and someone in a ball cap would appeal -more- to me than someone in a suit. I don’t know whether that’d be true of enough people to form a decent market…but there it is anyway. I think too many times society says “Cut the edges off yourself to fit your square self into round holes…or else.” And we do, and it’s to our detriment when we could’ve just run with the square edged crowd and been just fine.

Well to be honest in my opinion it shouldn’t change a persons perspective but in reality and in this society yes it does matter. I hate it…unfortunatly appearance means everything. If someone came in wearing a baseball cap I wouldn’t judge I would have to ask the questions anyway so it doesn’t matter.

Not that someone with a cap doesn’t have the ability, but if I see someone wearing a cap trying to sell real estate I would think ‘Don’t they know that the cap is only hurting their sales pitch? They mustn’t be a great salesperson if they don’t realise that.’

So dressing inappropriately doesn’t infer lack of ability, just lack of common sense and knowing what to do. Usually when you are involved with a professional you want them to be as orthodox as possible, and hope that things do smoothly. I don’t want to see the casual side of my doctor, for example. They should be taking things very seriously, all the time.

Real estate isn’t as serious as medicine, but because it’s sale related there’s a greater focus on competition. And every little thing counts for so much more.

…

i have to agree…

and because the transactions involve such large sums of money

i too would look at someone who is dressed *seriously* rather than more casually

as someone who is going to take my business more seriously

i think this is the part of adult life that most of us reach when we have to *sell out*

for many years we have said *i’m going to dress, where my hair, piece my body, tatoo myself in the way that pleases me and people will accept me for the real me*

but the reality is

if you want to be successful in the business world

then you have to present yourself in the way that will be most accepted

just my .02 ;))

First impressions are strange animals. It’s very hard to undo an judgement born from a first impression. It’s hard even when you have made the evaluation, and you know that it’s wrong.
Even your day to day dress is in reality a costume that you use to shape the way that the world sees you. The ball cap may make no difference on the third meeting, but your first impression must leave the impression that you are an earnest and businesslike woman in whom your associates may place the kind of trust that must be a part of a very expensive transaction.

Maybe you could just substitute the ballcap for a swanky fedora ;)

Mmm… swanky fedoras are *hot*…

It *will* make an impact on people. Noone wants to walk into a bank and perform a large transaction with the goofy-looking, free-spirited gentlemen in the mesh t-shirt. That example was absurd just to show that it’s true at the far end of the scale, but even as it becomes less outrageous there will still be that hesitance.

I don’t like it at all and have actually had comments after interviews about what I’d chosen to wear, but I still have a spark of idealism in me that says that it *shouldn’t* matter and damn it I’m a good potential employee.

There is an ‘alternative’ realtor here in Ottawa, her tagline is basically “Not your parents’ realtor” and she’s made her non-traditional look/approach part of her pitch.
Apparently its working out for her too.

Kevin

PS - I second the fedora idea. I have one that I don’t wear nearly enough. That and an old great-coat and I look positively Bogartian… :P