Charisma is a characteristic that people assume is in-born. In other words, it’s the kind of thing you either have or you don’t. That couldn’t be further from the truth, especially in the business world. In business, expectations are firmly established. People expect you to introduce yourself a certain way. They expect you to define yourself by your job, or the products you are offering. Subverting that expectation with a memorable introduction piques curiosity. It makes you stand out from the crowd. It opens the door for sales.

Beyond the Suit and Tie

While many business professionals will tell you appearances are everything, the impression you make goes way beyond your suit and tie. Imagine you are at a convention in a room full of people. Everyone there is dressed up for the occasion. They’ve all got sleek hair, sterling silver business card cozies and shiny shoes. They all look very appropriately businessy. Now imagine walking out of that room and trying to remember a single person, a single face in the crowd. So often I find myself struggling to remember the names of the people I just met, and that’s on a normal day! In a convention center, the challenge is 100-fold. One simple way to stand out is to shake up everyone’s expectations. Wear a velvet leisure suit. Wear a giant sombrero. If you’re really feeling daring, dress up in an 18^th century powdered wig like the businessmen of old. In short, wear something that makes you the center of attention. In a convention environment, you won’t lose any points for being outrageous. You’ll gain admiration while being the most memorable person in the room. You better believe everyone will leave that building thinking about the original, zany crusader who stole the show. When you follow up on those leads you collected, people will make time to talk to you.

The Activities Make the Man

While costumed stunts work fabulously well at a convention or conference, they’re not practical for day-to-day meetings with potential clients. If you want to make yourself more charismatic and interesting on a normal day at the office, you’ll need some stories with a real “wow” factor. This might mean taking a trip to an exotic country in search of buried treasure or hiking the Oregon Trail with only a backpack and a lute.  While you might not feel like you have the time for a character-building vacation, you’d be well advised to make that time. If you have a compelling, strange story, you become a memorable person. It’s a simple fact. Think about what truly interests you and get creative about how to explore that interest more fully. If you’ve always wanted to scuba dive, take a class in scuba and go on a trip. Print out your underwater photographs for your office wall and learn about the species you photographed. The more interesting your life activities, the more charismatic you become. If you actually become more interesting to yourself in the process, all the better.

The Opt-In Moment

If you start out every meeting with an unexpected and interesting anecdote, you start out every meeting with curiosity and interest. Interest is the key to the “opt-in,” the moment when the person you’re talking to asks YOU a question. In sales, getting a lead interested in you personally is the golden goal. Once a lead asks you a question, you have your foot in the door. So much of business is building relationships. That is the same today as it has always been. Despite the virtual world we all live in, we are still people sitting behind the screens. Appeal to the curiosity of your audience and you appeal to the person, not just the consumer. Not only is this good for business, it makes life more fun and it makes your potential clients feel like people instead of numbers. That’s good for everyone.