I used to wear crocs to the office. True story. Pitiful, I know.

I used to walk around town handing out fliers for my office while wearing crocs and cargo shorts. People probably thought I was a joke.

I wouldn’t go to me if I was dressed like that.

I used to bring my table to a local barber shop on weekends and adjust people there (before I started doing a day 1 day 2).

I made friends with the people there and got along with them. I knew them, they knew me and we had a good relationship.

So I was pretty surprised when the owner started going to a different chiropractor for some issues he was having.

“Why didn’t he come see me?” I thought.

Well I’ll tell you why.

How people perceive you is how they’re going to think of you.

If you walk around in crocs and cargo shorts, people aren’t going to perceive you to be the expert you are.

If you are setting up at the barber shop and adjusting people without taking a complete history, you don’t look like a professional doctor. You look like a hack. The Q word.

You might be an excellent chiropractor, but if you don’t cement your expertise, credibility and authority in tangible ways that people can perceive, they aren’t going to think about you the way you want.

Who would you rather go see for medical help? A doctor who looks like a doctor? Or a doctor who looks and dresses like a big man-child.

People probably looked at me and judged my skills based on how I looked. Everybody does it.

It’s easy to make a judgment of someone based on how they look. They do it to you too.

People perceive and judge every little nuance and then what they perceive becomes their reality.

This is why first impressions are so important.

How you present yourself is critical to how you are perceived.

An interesting study I recently read about confirms that people make choices based on appearance.

In a study called “The Image and the Vote: The Effect of Candidate Presentation on Voter Preference,” researchers found that a candidate’s physical appearance produced a clear image of that candidate’s character and fitness among voters, and this impression significantly impacted how the voters saw the candidate.

So, it’s vital to take care of your physical appearance.

Make sure your nails are clipped and clean, your hair is cut, washed and styled appropriately.

A clean shaven look is appropriate for a male doctor, and a bit of a tan never hurts either.

Make sure you’re dressed well too.

It’s vital to dress professionally. Think of it like a costume.

Imagine you are playing a doctor on a TV show. How would you dress? Maybe you’d wear a dress shirt and slacks. A white doctor’s coat, stethoscope. Pens in the coat. Maybe you’d have one of those flip down eye magnifiers (lol).

At a minimum, khakis and a polo are appropriate. Jeans with a dress shirt is appropriate as well.

You have a physical job, so traditional dress clothes isn’t always practical, however you may feel comfortable wearing a dress shirt and tie to solidify your status as a professional.

Keep up your fitness level. You’ve heard the saying “Never trust a skinny baker.” Well, I wouldn’t trust an out of shape doctor either.

Dress nice.

Look sharp.

Take care of your appearance

Look like someone YOU want to do business with.

Look like a pro, act like a pro, and people will see you as a pro.

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If you want to see some easy ways to improve your positioning, buy my book. I go in depth and show you some great tricks you can use to quickly and easily boost the way people perceive you.