A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

On Monday, Leona Helmsley died.

She led a life of success and excess, as well as huge failures in the businesses she helped to build and operate.  Unfortunately for her, some of her past exploits and bad reputation could not be overcome when it came to how people perceived her.  Here's a sample:

Victor Colicchio was a front-desk staffer at the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South and Leona Helmsley's sometime butler and houseman. Michael Moss, in his Helmsley biography, "Palace Coup," doesn't use Colicchio's name. But he describes Leona's lap-swimming routine quite vividly.

"She had one of the house servants stand at poolside with a gleaming platter full of glistening, freshly cooked shrimp," Moss writes. "'It was a big tray, silver and polished,'" the staffer recalled. " 'The captain had me stand at the end of the pool, and each time she came around, I offered her a shrimp.' " They were Leona's rewards for doing her laps.

"'So I would bend down, and she would take it or not. And if she took one and cocktail sauce splattered, I would have to take the whole tray back to the kitchen to be cleaned up. And I'd have to do that and get back in time before she made her lap.'"

For all of her business success and sales savvy that she displayed while building her empire, the other side of her image overwhelmed any good that may have come out of her life in business.

The lesson for sales professionals: Your image matters.  It will define you and your professional career.