You wouldn’t knowingly go to a business meeting with toilet paper on your shoe or food on your face.  You’re likely meticulous about presenting yourself because you know your professional image says a lot the quality of your work.

Failing to pay attention to the basics of personal grooming will lose you the sale, and subject you to ridicule.

Trust me, I know.

Several years ago, just before a sales presentation, I’d indulged in the delight of the pastry treat known as Passion Flaky.

For those of you unfamiliar, it’s a wonderful combo of flaky pastry, jam and whipped cream.

Anyway, I had had neglected to do a quick mirror check before heading into my meeting and I found out later that I literally had food on my face the whole time.

I cannot begin to describe how embarrassed I was. No matter how brilliantly my presentation went, my prospects could not take me seriously. They were fixated on the globule of whipped cream that adorned my eager face.

Needless to say, I lost that sale, but learned a valuable lesson that day.

A lesson I’d like to share with you.

If you’re a business owner, you’re in the business of selling your services, and I hope that you can identify with how mortified I felt.

My point: If you care about your image, why does your website promote events from 2 years ago? Why is your LinkedIn profile barely complete, or your Facebook headshot the picture of you and your cats?

As more (most) people use the internet as a primary means of connecting with others, how you present yourself and your company online is subject to public scrutiny and judgement.

How you present yourself and your company online is subject to public scrutiny and judgement.

Simply put, your future customers will make a judgement about your competency based on what they can found out about you online. And if there is cause for dismissal, they won’t take the time to connect with you in person- that’s the equivalent of a lost sale.

Worse still, is if they can’t find you online. In this day and age of increasingly internet savvy consumers, you are expected to be where your customers hang out online. You need to have the bare minimum of an updated website, a presence on Facebook, a LinkedIn and Twitter account.

And you need to make sure these online assets are as well groomed as you would be, on your way to pitch your dream client.

Don’t be caught with Passion Flaky on your face. Be as meticulous about your online presence as you are about your personal grooming and save yourself the embarrassment and lost sales.

Laurel Lindsay is the President and Founder of The New Media Group, a Results Guaranteed Internet Marketing firm. Now, she always checks the mirror before sales meetings.