Perception Is Reality

If you’ve ever been to one of my training sessions, you know there’s a fundamental principle I always share with people – and I know far too often it doesn’t get the respect it deserves. The principle is very simple.

Perception is reality.

This is one of the most important lessons when becoming successful.

When I talk about perception being reality, everyone around me nods in agreement. They’re all like, “yeah man, okay, we get it, it makes sense”…  but yet it’s the same individuals I see a week later who have not changed.

Now when I say perception is reality, what am I talking about? Well, allow me to explain a bit here:

I’m of the personal belief system that you should NEVER pass judgment on other human beings. I look to never pass judgment on other human beings, because I don’t want judgment to be passed on me.

But the fact of the matter is that there is one fact that none of us can escape from: human beings do pass judgment on other human beings. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Let me give you an example:

One of the things I do in the automotive space is build sales teams for dealerships. I have dealers call me up and say “Hey, Al – we’re ready to drop or grenade on our sales floor.” This is where I come in to conduct an interview session using a unique method that will allow me to find the talent they need.

Now, when I’m sitting in a room of potential sales candidates that are looking to join our team, in order to share this principle on perception being reality with them, I always say “Guys, girls – we should never be passing judgment on other human beings.”

Now when I say this, as I said earlier, everybody in the room nods in agreement with me – and then it gets real quiet when I look to all of them and say “but all of you are guilty of this.”

I then explain to them that I know perfectly well that when all of them were out in that waiting area waiting to meet with me, they were looking at each other, sizing each other up, and yes… passing judgment on one another.

When I do these sessions, I get a lot of interesting characters showing up. I have some people that look like they could run the world, and I also have people that show up looking like they’re there to landscape my lawn.

You see, when you are striving to become a six figure performer, there is a series of little fundamentals that you must understand, and one of them is simply that human beings, whether consciously or not, will be passing judgment on you – and understanding how to use this as an advantage.

Look around your dealership and ask yourself:

“If a stranger was to walk in here and look around, who would they identify as the person that is at the top of their field?”

The point here is that if you’re in sales, you should dress like you’re in management, if you’re in management, you should dress like you’re the owner, and if you’re the owner you should be on a golf course because you’ve got an effective and efficient team running the shop for you.

One of the things I remember when I started my business is this: those that knew me knew I was really good at what I did. But those who DIDN’T had no reason to simply take me word for it. I knew I needed a way to shape their perception of me before the first syllable came out of either of our mouths.

I had to look the part.

So I always made sure that my shoes were shined, clothes were pressed, ties were done up nicely and that the ends of them rested EXACTLY at my belt buckle. I made sure that I was looking like a million dollars at all times, and let me tell you, it paid off.

Interestingly, I received some perfect evidence of the perception is reality principle just a few weeks ago. I was speaking at an event that day, and afterwards myself and the other people present went out for dinner….

There was a lady at the table with us as we chatted, and she made a comment that absolutely blew my mind.

She was a single lady, and she was talking about how she, like billions of other ladies, got approached by men all the time. But she had a secret test that indicated to her whether you were worth talking to or not whether you were worth giving her number to or not.

She would look at any man who approached her, and could tell within seconds whether this was someone she wanted to speak to, and that’s because she’d pass judgment on you for good bad or worse based on…

Your socks.

That’s right, gentleman.

To her, socks were a fundamental piece of your wardrobe, even though they were for the most part were covered.

She believed that when nice socks were worn, the individual wearing them was cognizant of the split second that their pant leg might be raised and somebody would be able to see them, and that in that split second they had an opportunity to convey that they were on point top to bottom, head to toe!

Here’s an example out in real life where the courtship between man and woman could be affected so greatly by this principle, and it’s very important that you understand. So I want all of you to remember – perception is reality.

You should never be passing judgment on other human beings, in life or in business – but you must understand that other human beings will be passing judgment on you!

So if you are committed to becoming a strong six figure performer make sure that every single day you get dressed you get suited and booted ready to go and take on the world, because this simple rule is going to be beneficial and advantageous to your desired result –

And that is success in your business and in your sales careers.

-Alan

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