About Robyn Balsley: Robyn Balsley, founder of Graceful Impression. With over 15 years of experience in marketing and branding, Robyn has worked with a wide range of clients, from small startups to large corporations. She is known for her ability to create compelling brand stories and design impactful marketing campaigns that drive results. Partnering with HALO, a global leader in branded merchandise, uniform programs, and recognition and incentive solutions. She works with clients to break through the clutter of our
media saturated world and connect their brands to customers, employees and other
audiences critical to their success. Through years of experience helping companies build their brands through products, Robyn is also working with individuals to reignite their confidence, provide the strongest impression of themselves, when it matters most. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Robyn.
In this episode, Nancy and Robyn discuss the following:
- How does someone go from marketing and branding to personal styling?
- How do you assess what a person’s personal style is?
- How you feel inside shows how you feel on the outside. Can you expand on that?
- The importance of showing up.
- The value of everyone in an organization showing up.
- How do you have that conversation with team members that aren’t showing up?
- The story the audience would find interesting
- Why does Robyn focus on working with companies and teams versus individuals?
- Something, in particular, Robyn wanted to spotlight.
- Pajama style in different generations.
- Robyn’s view on casual dressing.
- Is all from the waist up in Zoom meetings?
- Is Robyn’s family all styled appropriately each and every day?
- Fun fact about Robyn.
- Something that you believe is true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
- Why don’t you share what you offer? Robyn’s area of expertise.
- What’s your advice on cleaning out your closet?
- One takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with.
- How can my people find you?
Key Takeaways:
- It takes three to five seconds to make a first impression.
- Everyone thinks they don’t know their style, but they do. We know what we like, and what looks good on other people, and we can emulate that in ourselves.
- And I see way too many cameras turned off on calls because people aren’t ready for the day.
- When dressed up people felt accountable, and they were more productive, and they admitted they were more productive.
- I truly believe people will argue with me on this, but if you wear your sweats all day long, or if you get up and get dressed, even if you’re wearing jeans and a nice shirt, you’re going to perform better if you get dressed.
- I saw it throughout the pandemic. I challenged clients to get up and get dressed at least five days a week. And those that did said they felt better, and they didn’t feel so isolated.
- I noticed that everybody in Japan got up and got dressed every day, like on the street, they’re riding bicycles to work, but they’re still dressed, or you just didn’t see anybody in sweats or workout wear or pajamas for that matter. And to me, the biggest thing that came across for me was respect.
- I think just challenge yourself at the beginning of a week, kind of have some people prep their food for the week, prep your clothes for the week.
- It takes the stress out of getting dressed.
“A great example is one of my clients they’re in the financial world. And pre-pandemic, they were wearing suits to work and very, very buttoned up. And now they’ve relaxed the dress and they can wear jeans, a blazer, a nice blouse or a shirt. And it’s kind of confusing to their employees. Some will come with jeans that have holes in them because they can wear jeans, but that’s not really what they’re saying. So, they’re losing their culture, and in some companies, it’s even part of their branding, going back to my previous life, it’s how your team is showing up as a part of your brand.” – ROBYN
“And it’s truly our mental state that affects how we show up, how we, what our, attitude is, and how we people perceive us. It has a lot to do with how we are. Think about a great example of that, If I put on my workout clothes, my mental mind tells me that I’m going to go work out. So, that’s kind of what we’re prepared to do. But if I’m wearing my workout clothes all day long and I’m working, it’s confusing and we’re not putting our best self forward. So that’s really where that mental from the inside out.” – ROBYN
“How you dress while working from home matters. And you will be more productive if you dress a little, if you just dress up, just up-level, just a little bit versus wearing pajama bottoms, and a t-shirt. It truly a hundred percent makes a difference.” – ROBYN
“And I think just really going back to the whole sales aspect of it all, when we’re in front of clients, we need to put our best self forward. And even if we’re cold calling on the phone, it’s how you’re dressed for that cold call, I think makes a difference. I believe it makes a difference.” – ROBYN
Connect with Robyn Balsley:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynbalsley/
- Website: https://www.gracefulimpression.com/
Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/
Connect with Nancy Calabrese:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/oneofakindsales
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/
- Website: https://oneofakindsales.com
- Phone: 908-879-2911
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/
- Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi everyone, it’s Nancy Calabrese and it’s time again for Conversational Selling, the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today and it always starts with the human conversation. Today we’re speaking with Robyn Balsley, founder of Graceful Impression. With over 15 years of experience in marketing and branding, Robyn has worked with a wide range of clients, from small startups to large corporations. She is known for her ability to create compelling brand stories and design impactful marketing campaigns that drive results. In addition to her work with graceful impression, Robyn is also a speaker and coach, sharing her expertise with business owners and entrepreneurs around the world. She is dedicated to helping her clients build successful businesses and achieve their goals. We are so excited to have you today, Robyn, and look forward to learning from your experiences and insights. So welcome to the show. [1:19]
Robyn Balsley: Thank you so much, Nancy. I’m excited to be here.
Nancy Calabrese: Oh my Gosh, so how does someone go from, let’s see, marketing, branding, and now personal styling?
Robyn Balsley: Well, it really started with just, with my marketing and branding business and working with so many levels of people throughout the years. And I’ve worked, like you said, you know, just I’ve been with purchasing agents, I’ve been with CEOs of companies. And I find as we change in our careers, our style, and how we dress make a difference. It takes three to five seconds to make a first impression. And I found that as people were aging, like myself, if we don’t dress the part and we don’t, we’re not relevant as we are for today, as modern and dressing for the world we’re in now, it really dates us and it gives people the wrong impression, which is very hard to get back once they’ve received that wrong impression. So about four years ago, I started my personal styling business just for that reason to empower people, really to step into their confidence and be in the role that they truly are or possibly the role that they want to get to. [2:29]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, so how do you assess what a person’s personal style is?
Robyn Balsley: Really, it’s just, it’s your personality. And you can even start as something so basic of what, you know, if you’re looking at your career, what you’re doing, what people are wearing, it’s changed so much in the last few years. But I’d like to use things like Pinterest or other tools like this, where you see what people are wearing, and what inspires you. Everyone thinks they don’t know their style, but we do. We know what we like, and what looks good on other people, and we can emulate that in ourselves.
Nancy Calabrese: Really cool. I read somewhere two things, and we talked about this before, you believed too in shopping your closet, which I think is awesome. And that style is really an inside job. I mean, I never thought of it that way. How you feel inside shows how you feel on the outside. Can you expand on that? [3:27]
Robyn Balsley: Absolutely. So, during the pandemic, you know, we all switched gears. We were all working from home and our sweats and everybody was very casual. And I did some research and I found there’s actually a mental phenomenon called enclosed cognition. And it’s truly our mental state that affects how we show up, how we, what our, attitude is, and how we people perceive us. It has a lot to do with how we are. So, think about a great example of that, If I put on my workout clothes, my mental mind tells me that I’m going to go work out. So, that’s kind of what we’re prepared to do. But if I’m wearing my workout clothes all day long and I’m working, it’s confusing and we’re not putting our best self forward. So that’s really where that mental from the inside outcomes from. It’s how we show up. We feel so much better when we get dressed and we dress the part for the day. [4:20]
Nancy Calabrese: I never really thought of it that way because I’d be really comfortable in my jogging outfit, but I don’t by the way. But yeah, I guess it is really important to show up. Right? Especially if you’re client-facing.
Robyn Balsley: Oh, most definitely. And there is so much confusion now. And so, I found that just people don’t know, you know, one day you’re working in the office, one day you’re working remotely. And especially in sales, if a client calls you and wants to hop on a call on Zoom call or some kind of face-to-face computer call, you should be ready to go. And if you’re not, that’s bad, you know, that’s not good. And I see way too many cameras turned off on calls because people aren’t ready for the day. [5:06]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, no, and you know what, I always show up with a camera, always. And I tell my people to do that as well. We were speaking before we went on again about the importance of everyone in an organization showing up. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Robyn Balsley: Yes. So that’s a really key piece. So again, we’ve kind of lost that culture. So, a great example is one of my clients they’re in the financial world. And pre-pandemic, they were wearing suits to work and very, very buttoned up. And now they’ve relaxed the dress and they can wear jeans, a blazer, a nice blouse or a shirt. And it’s kind of confusing to their employees. Some will come with jeans that are that have holes in them because they can wear jeans, but that’s not really what they’re saying. So, they’re losing their culture, and in some companies, it’s even part of their branding, going back to my previous life, it’s how your team is showing up as a part of your brand. [6:09]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, huh? And how do you have that conversation with team members that aren’t showing up?
Robyn Balsley: You do it as, you know, we actually call it a team-building workshop. It’s a little mini workshop. We can do it over a lunch hour. And basically, what we do is, work with the company first and figure out what, where, and how they want their people to show up. And then from there, we create how we want this to look and, we want people to dress in a certain way, but also in their unique style. So how they feel best. So, I help them walk through that and what makes the most sense for them with certain guidelines. [6:44]
Nancy Calabrese: Isn’t there a story the audience would find interesting? Do you have one?
Robyn Balsley: Yeah, I think what I found with one client specifically is that they got a lot of pushbacks and they’re working from home. Why should they get dressed every day? And we did one of these workshops and what we found after about a month, people started noticing on, even if they’re working from home, they notice on Zoom calls like they call people out like, hey, I like that shirt or you know that because we all, they all learn the same tools in this team building. So, it was really kind of fun because now they’re starting to inspire each other. And that I thought was a really cool outcome of that. And people felt accountable and they were more productive and, they admitted they were more productive. [7:33]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, you know, you’re making me laugh because one of my employees is a clothes horse and she admitted it. And she said she drives her husband nuts. I mean, she’s forever getting new clothes, new clothes, new clothes. And I said, well, how do you wear all of them? She goes, well, I get rid of the other ones that I’m not wearing. I mean, she just replaces them. So, I, uh, this workshop would be very meaningful to her and her family. I’m sure. Yeah, that’s so funny.
Robyn Balsley: Yes. We could shop in her closet, I’m sure.
Nancy Calabrese: Oh my God, I think we’re going to make her show us her closet.
Robyn Balsley: Yes.
Nancy Calabrese: So, why do you focus on working with companies and teams maybe versus individuals? [8:20]
Robyn Balsley: I mean, I still do some work with individuals, but I just found that’s really, there’s just a need for that right now because there is so much confusion on what to wear. And our world, this hybrid world we live in has become very relaxed and people just, and they don’t know the importance of it. They don’t think it’s important. I mean, I truly believe and people will argue with me on this, but if you wear your sweats all day long, or if you get up and get dressed, even if you’re wearing jeans and a nice shirt, you’re going to perform better if you get dressed. 100%. And I saw it throughout the pandemic. I challenged clients to get up and get dressed at least five days a week. And those that did said they felt better and they didn’t feel so isolated. [9:00]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, and this applies to men as well.
Robyn Balsley: Oh, absolutely. I mean, they’re doing the same thing. If they’re in a sloppy t-shirt and sweats, it’s different. I mean, you’re just going to perform differently. [9:17]
Nancy Calabrese: Well, is there anything, in particular, you want to spotlight as we’re speaking?
Robyn Balsley: I think it’s just the most important part for me is that just a little backstory, I was in Japan recently, which is just an incredible country. But I noticed that everybody there got up and got dressed every day, like on the street, they’re riding bicycles to work, but they’re still dressed or you just didn’t see anybody in sweats or workout wear or pajamas for that matter. And to me, the biggest thing that came across for me was respect. I think it’s respect for ourselves first. and then it shows respect for others. And I think that’s a big one for me. [9:55]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, you know, now when you said, you say pajamas, I say pajamas. I live in a complex, I have two dogs, so obviously they have to be walked.
Robyn Balsley: Right.
Nancy Calabrese: And I’m always quote-unquote dressed. And there are people in this complex that will walk out in their pajamas. And I’m blown away by that.
Robyn Balsley: It’s crazy.
Nancy Calabrese: It is crazy. And I’ve got a daughter who’s 22, who wouldn’t care, about walking out in her pajamas, and I just never ever would have done that, even think of it. But that’s what they’re used to nowadays, you know?
Robyn Balsley: And it’s okay, people just do it and that’s just the way it is. And I think, again, it’s just like we need, I would love to see people just start stepping it up. And again, we don’t have to get so dressed up, but just up-level.
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, so you’re not against casual dressing, but maybe business casual?
Robyn Balsley: Absolutely. Like right now I’m wearing jeans and sneakers, and just I put on a nice blouse, it changed everything. [10:56]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. And by the way, she does look gorgeous. Sorry you can’t see her, but yeah, you’re right. Because if we’re in Zoom meetings, it really is all from the waist up, right?
Robyn Balsley: Correct. Right. But again, even though we’re waist up, if you’re wearing sloppy sweats, I mean, there’s even I believe in there are nice joggers you can wear that are a little bit more fitted. If that is, I like that better than wearing a big pair of baggy sweats. So, even though we’re dressing from the waist up, we do want to think about the waist down as well. [11:25]
Nancy Calabrese: Interesting. Showing up as your highest and best self makes all the difference in being more productive and your overall well-being. What a great quote.
Robyn Balsley: Yes, hands down.
Nancy Calabrese: It just makes so much sense. So, I’m curious about your family, are they all styled appropriately each and every day?
Robyn Balsley: No. My husband goes to an office, so he does. He does, he gets up and gets dressed. My son is just newly graduated from college, and he is working remotely about 90% of the time. And he actually, he’s my style guy. He does like to get dressed. And my daughter also works remotely, and she’s in her late 20s. And someday she’s dressed and someday she’s not. But she works in a different world. But I think it matters. [12:14]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, and it probably varies from generation to generation. Wouldn’t you agree?
Robyn Balsley: Yes. completely agree. My husband would never think to put on sweats to go to work, like never. [12:25]
Nancy Calabrese: Oh no, yeah. So, I’m a baby boomer.
Robyn Balsley: Me too.
Nancy Calabrese: And I think few of us, you are too, few of us dress down when I think about it. And it’s really the younger people that I see that just don’t care. They wear caps, you know, pointed to the side. The other end of it is, I guess you have to respect the differences too, right? As we all… try to interact and communicate. [12:55]
Robyn Balsley: Correct. And I think just really going back to the whole sales aspect of it all, when we’re in front of clients, we need to put our best self forward. And even if we’re cold calling on the phone, it’s how you’re dressed for that cold call, I think makes a difference. I believe it makes a difference. [13:13]
Nancy Calabrese: Well, I believe in what you’re saying for sure. So, share a fun fact about you. What should the audience know? That’s fun.
Robyn Balsley: So, I guess really where this all for me, I’ve always had a love of fashion. That’s not so much as your employee where I have that many clothes, but I do love my fashion. And I grew up with the, I was the youngest of four and I always wore hand-me-down clothes. So, I think that’s where this came from for me. So, it was kind of a, my sisters would wear things that I knew that I’m going to get that, I’m going to get that. I never got anything new. So that was kind of my, I think that’s where this all started in my mental mind. [13:49]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. Well, I don’t blame you. It’s always good to get something new that you can call your own.
Robyn Balsley: Exactly right.
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, and I’m the oldest of three and I have a sister and she always got my hand me down. She never left me anyway. [14:04]
Robyn Balsley: See?
Nancy Calabrese: This didn’t make it any better. Tell me something that you believe is true that almost nobody agrees with you on and I may know your answer. [14:15]
Robyn Balsley: Yes. So, it is truly the fact that how you dress while working from home matters. And you will be more productive if you dress a little, if you just dress up, just up-level, just a little bit versus wearing pajama bottoms, and a t-shirt. It truly a hundred percent makes a difference. [14:37]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, and have there been clinical studies done on that?
Robyn Balsley: Well, that’s that whole enclosed cognition that I talked about. There have been mental, I mean, it is a mental phenomenon. Yes.
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. All right, everybody, you better go through your closets. Now, let’s talk about closets because I have been getting rid of clothing I haven’t touched in years, and I’d rather give it away to Goodwill so that other people can enjoy it. What’s your advice on cleaning out your closet? [15:06]
Robyn Balsley: I think that’s great. And I’m the same way, Nancy, I give things away versus I don’t do consignment or anything like that because I feel like somebody else can wear it and love it. And one of my easiest tips to do is if you wear something throughout the day and you don’t feel good in it, do not put it back in your closet. Find a little bin or something to put things in that is a giveaway pile. And I think that’s the quickest way to get things out of there that aren’t working. And I think just… organizing your closet in a way where your shirts are together, your pants are together and think about how you’re getting dressed. This is a really fun trick that I do every six months I turn my hangers backward so the open part is facing me, and then when I wear something, I turn it the right way. So, in six months, I can see any hanger that’s still hanging backward, I have not worn, and I can easily get rid of it because I know I’m not wearing. [16:01]
Nancy Calabrese: Oh, my goodness, you know, I heard that story just a couple of weeks ago and never thought of that.
Robyn Balsley: Mm-hmm. The really easy way.
Nancy Calabrese: I hate to say it, but half of my closet should go then, more than half.
Robyn Balsley: Well, what I find with some of my clients are telling me is that it challenges them. When they see that hanger facing backward, they look at it and say, how can I wear that today? I think I’m going to wear that because, you know, the 80-20 rule, we wear 20% of our closet. And it just, I think that’s really important too, to mix it up and wear different things. [16:30]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, wow. You know, we could go on forever and I wish you were here so you could help me through my closet dilemmas. But I know that you offer several services. So why don’t you share what you offer?
Robyn Balsley: Sure. So, what I’m doing a lot of right now are these professional styling workshops. And again, it’s like a little team building, mini workshop, I’m doing with companies. We’re doing it live and virtually. And then I also do still work with clients individually. We do what I call a closet cleanse, where I go in and spend hours in your closet and we get things, everything out and only put back in what’s working, and doing, you know, help with different public speaking, just going out to different organizations and sharing some of these things that we’ve just talked about. [17:17]
Nancy Calabrese: And you could do some of this virtually as well?
Robyn Balsley: Yes, definitely.
Nancy Calabrese: So, if I say hired you to clean my closet, I’m in Florida also, but in a different part, I would just show you my closet, and you would say, take it away, take it away, or something like that?
Robyn Balsley: Yep.
Nancy Calabrese: Cool.
Robyn Balsley: Yes, and the great part after we do the closet cleanse is that we actually create outfits from clothes you already have and things that you’re not wearing. And we can find new ways to wear them. And we take pictures so you can see. Like, it gives you inspiration. So, if you’re trying to get ready quickly, you can look at these pictures and remember how to put different things together. [17:54]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, I can’t believe we’re almost up with time. What is the one takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with?
Robyn Balsley: I think just challenge yourself at the beginning of a week, kind of have some people prep for their food for the week, prep your clothes for the week. If you’ve got a couple of important meetings in the week, think about it on Sunday and put those outfits together or what you’re going to wear for that. So then that morning when you wake up, you just put it on and you feel good and you’ve already taken the time and you’re not wasting energy on what you’re going to wear that day. [18:22]
Nancy Calabrese: Ah, you know, I’ll leave on this note. The one thing I’ve done that has been a lot of fun for me is I’ve, you know, got new earrings. All right, this won’t necessarily apply to you guys that are listening, but it makes me feel good that they’re a little unique, they’re a little different, keeps me fresh. And on a final note, when I do clean out my closet, I feel like a million bucks. [18:51]
Robyn Balsley: It takes all the clutter away and you just, it takes the stress out of getting dressed as one of my taglines.
Nancy Calabrese: It takes the stress out of getting dressed. So, Robyn, how can my people find you?
Robyn Balsley: Real easy, you can go, I have a website, gracefulimpression.com, or follow me on Instagram at @gracefulimpression, or on Pinterest at @gracefulimpression. [19:15]
Nancy Calabrese: Okay, great. By the way, folks, Robyn is spelled R-O-B-Y-N, and it’s B-A-L-S-L-E-Y. I loved our conversation. I’d like to continue it down the road if you’d come back and maybe share some new design trips or tricks and trades that you’ve learned. Would you be willing?
Robyn Balsley: I would love it, Nancy. I really enjoyed our conversation as well. [19:40]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, and everyone takes advantage of what Robyn has to offer. I think feeling good about yourself each and every day, especially for those of us that are in sales, it’s all about mindset. So, if you’re looking good and you’re feeling good, you’re going to come off even better with your target audience. So, everyone, have a great sales day. And will see you next time. [20:05]
