It happens between 1 and 30-40 times a year for many business professionals: you stand in front of other people and allow yourself to be judged. Call it a presentation, a meeting with clients, or whatever you like, but the fact of the matter is that business is about relationships and relationships only grow closer together or further apart. The things we do every year to cultivate our business relationships help support one of these two developments. Nothing happens on its own.
There are two levels of judgment (by which I refer to an individual’s final decision regarding what to do, think, or believe, not necessarily a moral kind of judgment). The first is rather objective: your audience decides on a very basic level whether or not you merit the attention and commitment you request. In other words, the first level of judgment may not involve nuanced issues like clothing preferences, verbal accents, relationships with parents, etc. Therefore, the first task is to get yourself very generally prepared. Wear appropriate business attire, demonstrate basic due diligence, speak in complete sentences and so on.
The second level of judgment is deeper. It’s all about perception–not just broad strokes about yourself in the audience’s eyes, but small details that affect the way you seem to them. In many cases it is not as important as the first because for the majority of business decisions, decision-makers won’t hold you accountable to their own standards of style and excellence. By the same token, when this level of judgment matters it matters a lot. For the type of prospect that cares, there can be a lot of opportunity for any individual capable of being exactly the right fit.
Start paying close attention to the little things in your business relationships. You don’t have to be a chameleon to successfully cast your qualities and strengths in a light your audience can identify with. Judgment is inevitable; the question is how you will prepare for the judgment and whether you’ll pass the test.
