His eyes were narrow and bloodshot from staying out late and partying too heavily the previous night. Two-day old stubble framed his face. He was wearing a dark-colored T-shirt which he hadn't tucked in, a pair of jeans, and scuffed loafers which had probably never seen shoe polish. It was the second day of my Sales Academy seminar, and this participant in the program was complaining to the group that his customers were only interested in low price.

I didn't say this because I didn't want to embarrass him in front of the group, but I thought it none the less: "Do you think your appearance and demeanor have anything to do with your customers' reactions? Do you think that you may give them the idea that you are the lowest rung on the pricing scale? Is it possible that you have inadvertently positioned yourself as the Wal-Mart of the industry?"

This scenario illustrates a powerful and frequently overlooked best practice in the world of sales: Whether you intend to or not, you always create a position in the minds of your customers, and that position influences the customer's attitudes toward you as well as the buying decisions that follow.

The position you, as a salesperson, occupy is a complex intertwining of the perception of your company, your solutions, and yourself. The most effective salespeople and sales organizations understand that and consciously work to create a positive position in the minds of their customers.

Creating your position

Let's begin at the end. A good starting point is to think deeply and with some detail about what sort of position you want to create. What, exactly, do you want your customers to think of you? Let me suggest two possibilities: the minimum acceptable position and the ideal position.

At a minimum, I believe your customer should view you as a competent, trustworthy person who brings value. They believe that you generally know your products and their strengths and weaknesses, that you generally know the customer's issues, and that you can be reliably counted on to do what you say you will do.

At the other end of the spectrum is the ideal position. This builds on the minimum but adds a specific understanding on the part of the customer of your unique combination of strengths and attributes. It evolves as you have history with the customer until you occupy a position that is totally and uniquely yours. The ultimate test of the power of your position is the customer's willingness to see you and the resulting preference for doing business with you.

Here's an illustration: If you were shopping for an automobile, a low-mileage late model Taurus would probably provide you with competent, reliable transportation. So when you think of that specific automobile, it would evoke a set of ideas in your mind all revolving around competent and reliable transportation.

Now, think of a brand new Lamborghini, and you would understand it to be transportation, but with a unique flair – something above and beyond just reliable transportation. That flair would be a result of the unique strengths of that particular automobile conveyed in a graphic way to your mind.

The question, then, is how do you want your customers to think of you? Once you articulate a specific picture, you can then start to build that position. Here are four essential steps to help you convey a positive position to your customers:

1. Soberly assess yourself.

What sort of position are you currently occupying in the customer's mind? Be as objective as possible as you think through each of the issues listed below, and compare yourself to your competitors. How do you stand on...

If you find that you rank below your competitors on any of these issues, then you need to spiff them up so that you are thought of, at least, as a Taurus. Then, you can begin to move toward a Lamborghini position.

2. Start on the inside.

In my book, 10 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople, I propose that you "get grounded." Consistency between who you are and who you present yourself to be is a foundation to a positive position.  In order to do that, you must clearly understand who you are. That means that you crystallize, in a written document, these three issues:

The process of articulating them and putting them on paper keeps you focused and attentive to the deeper issues.

3. Do a sober assessment of your strengths.

If you are going to position yourself in the eyes of the customer as having some combination of uniqueness, you first have to identify what those unique strengths are. What are your personal unique attributes, experiences and passions as it relates this job? Do you have some special experience? Do you have some unique capabilities? Do you have some unique relationships? Do you have some unusual characteristics? Identify those strengths on a piece of paper, and then add a line or two on how each of those can bring value to the customer.

At this point, you will have done the necessary homework to make the job of building a unique position much easier. You now know who you are and what strengths you can bring to your customers. Now comes the fun.

4. Continually seek opportunities to convey your brand.

Act in a way that is consistent with your statements of strengths. For example, if you say that you are good with high tech, don't take notes on a scratch pad. Put them into a PDA. If you say you are personally attractive, don't forget to shave before you make a sales call. Be consistent – act like the person you claim to be.

Find ways to utilize your strengths and emphasize your uniqueness. In one of my sales positions, for example, recognizing that I had some unique talents in speaking to groups, I consistently found ways to organize seminars and workshops for my customers in which I presented to the group. I could have made individual sales calls to six customers, but I found that when I brought all six together in a group, I was more effective. It was just me utilizing my strengths.

Develop a reputation by intention. Decide what you want to be known for, and then work to consistently make that happen. One salesperson makes sure, for example, that he doesn't call on a customer unless he has something to share with that customer which he believes that customer will find valuable. As a result, he has no problem getting time with his customers. He's developed the reputation of always bringing something of value.

Consider everything that you do. Question every single aspect of your interaction with the customer, and gradually shape every thing to match the position you want to gain. If you want your customer to think of you as confident and competent, don't drive a dirty, 10-year-old car. If you want your customer to think of you as worth an extra couple percentage points in price, then don't come in wearing wrinkled Dockers and a dirty T-shirt. If you want to be known as intelligent and articulate, don't use slang.

Your position in the minds of the customer is a powerful and subtle component of an effective salesperson's approach. Consistently working at building a positive position will pay dividends for years.