From the guy in the tie...

“No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.” (Regina Brett) from the Jack’s Winning Words Blog. Good advice in today’s horrible real estate market. I might modify it a bit and say, “No matter how you feel about the real estate market, get up, dress up and show up.” That kind of philosophy helps me get started everyday. Whether or not I have an appointment for the day, I get up, dress up (put on what I call my “Realtor outfit”, complete with a tie and my Realtor badge, and show up at the office.

Lots of my compatriots in the business don’t bother to dress the part, if they don’t have an appointment set for the day. They show up in jeans or other casual looks. To my way of thinking, that says something about their attitude about the office and about fellow workers. When I’m in the office I feel like I’m I a professional business environment – an environment where the public and customers have the right to expect a professional appearance. It is also a sign of respect for my fellow workers to show up in their business environment dressed appropriately, just in case I should happen to run into one of their clients. I would certainly never go to another business office dressed casually, even if it was just to drop something off for another agent.

I suppose that this attitude and my practices must look rather old fashion to many younger real estate pros; however, I suspect that most really successful Realtors would say the same thing. Even a recent article on 30 successful young Realtors who are under 30 years old showed them all dressed nicely (perhaps just for the pictures in the article, but I suspect that good dress is a part of their success story). The most egregious case of this too casual practice that I have seen is an agent showing one of my listings who showed up dressed in shorts, a Hawaii shirt and flip-flops to show the house. Excuse me! I don’t care if it was on a Saturday that was at the least disrespectful to his clients, not to mention my clients and me.

Maybe Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, can pull off the "way cool" casual jeans look at board meetings and with customers, but I just don't think it flies with most of the public, especially if you aren't already a very rich guy like Jobs. So, for me, I’ll continue to get up, dress up, show up and try to carry the banner for upholding a professional appearance while on the job. I’m known around my office and “the guy in the tie” and that’s OK with me. I’d rather be known as that than to ever be called “the slob over there in the jeans and tank top.” So, excuse me now, I have to go pick out today’s tie.