Do Clothes Affect Your Sales Success?

Hello and thank you for visiting my blog.

A few days ago one of my senior salesmen shocked me in a way he never has before.
This particular salesman is one of the best in our industry, he is great at connecting with his customers and has a knack for doing the unexpected.

What he did a few days ago, was worse than usual.

At our office we have a dress code that entails, for men;
Dress shoes, Jeans (or nicer), a shirt and a suit jacket.

Even though this salesman usually does things that are “out of the box” he always stays strict to the dress code.

He is 34 years old but when he entered the office after his first meeting with a customer he was wearing a cap (tilted to one side), a t-shirt, torn jeans and sneakers.

When I surprised asked him what he was wearing, he gave me a answer that I wasn’t expecting.

He told me of a customer he had been working with for the last months:
For months he had tried to make a deal with a young IT-company. He had spoken to them over the phone several times, and each time it went really well and all went smooth. They booked a meeting 2 weeks ago and when he came in his business clothes, he felt very out of place.
Like I said this was a young company and the employees were about 20-22 years old.

The atmosphere and discussion wasn’t at all as relaxed in person as it had been over the phone and the meeting didn’t go very well.
They did book a new appointment though (the one he had been to earlier this day).

After the meeting he had thought about what went wrong.

So when the new meeting was due he dressed the same way they did. He met them at the office and the discussion was just as relaxed as it had been over the phone. It ended with him making one of his biggest deals ever.

When he told me this I got thinking about the effect clothes have to a salesman.
As it turns out clothes has been very important in my sales experience.

Not that I always dress in a suit and tie, but I have always tried to dress for the situation.

If I am going to meet a Vice President of a large company, I would tend to dress in a suit and tie. But if I know this is a company with a relaxed dress code I instead try to match.

I feel that it is easier to bond with the customer, both parties feel like we are on the same level and talk the same language.

I tend to dress a little more proper than the customer, not much though.

My motto is: “Never let them be nicer dressed as it makes them feel superior, but if you dress to much more proper then the customer you will instead alienate them and often get off on the wrong foot.”

My easiest suggestion is to just always go with, jeans, shirt and suit jacket.
That way you always look proper but not overly dressed.

It is a diverse and interesting subject though, one I would love to hear your views about. How and why do you dress when meeting a customer?

//Daniel

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