Dress Code for Making a Sale

How should you dress when you want to make a sale? There is no fixed rule for this, other than you must dress appropriately for the target audience that you are meeting.

Most business owners will tell you that you should dress appropriately to make yourself comfortable. And there is some truth in this, but not if it costs you sales.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Many years ago I ran and owned a couple of software consultancies that specialised in accounting software. I once had to hire a programmer. Interviewed a lot of people and there were two candidates that looked as though they could do the job. Now these guys were self employed and were effectively selling their time to me, as self employed businessmen.

Candidate number one was in a suite. Smart, tie and shirt. Well polished shoes. Now I am a qualified accountant, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Selling accounting software at the time to big companies and my target decisions makers were also accountants, the company finance directors. So my company was laid out as though we were a firm of accountants and not a hip place like say the famous garages of the early days of the various iconic American Silicon valley computer companies.

Candidate number two was the proverbial programming hippie. Short sleeved shirt. Trainers. Pony tail for his hair. Almost unshaven as well. He thought that as a programmer he was hip and this showed in his attitude to the conversation we had when he came to present his credentials. I think the only thing that we did not have was a pair of sun glasses. But then again it was Scotland and in December.

Now this is a very obvious example and you know who get the sale. It may well be that the dress sense of the second candidate hid a much better programming skill. I will never know as I did not give him the chance to demonstrate by selling his time to me.

Of course had I been attempting to develop the iPod a decade prior to it's launch in my garage in Scotland, then the second chap would have got the sale. The point I am making is that your dress sense should be appropriate for the target audience.

And yes I think that you should make every attempt to smarten yourself up regardless. If the competition wears a Mark's and Spencer suite, then go spend an extra few hundred pounds and get a better more expensive suite.

Anyway that's all I have for now. Except to say that I love Mac's. This being written on the Mac Air and my iPod sitting beside it - so there if you thought I was just a boring Accountant.

Regards

mark.