What do you wear when out selling?

It’s funny but as a sales trainer and consultant it’s very rare that I wear a tie anymore. And do you know what I don’t miss them one iota!

I was reading through a classic sales ‘text book’ from the early 1990′s recently and was caught by the Way that the advise has dated so much in just ten years. I won’t give the name of the book because it was once regarded as the best sales texts books available and it would not be right.

The suggestions when it came to dress were:

‘Mens suits should be solid blue or gray, pinstripe or chalk stripe or modest gray plaid. Wool or polyester that looks like wool, is preffered. The darker the suit, the more authority it carries, although black is funeral. Men’s shirts and ties are important. Generaly, shirts should be white or pale blue or have mdest stripes………The ages of the salesman and the customer he is facing will affect the choice of dress. For salesman, considerbly younger than his customer, particularly buyers over the age forty eight, it is advisable that the salesman adopt the high – authority pattern of a dark suit along with a white shirt.’

Wow!

What detailed and specific advice. What happens to buyers at the age of 48? Is there some well known  ‘professional buyer menopause’ stage that kicks in?

Do you think that is true in today’s modern business world?

Personally I don’t but I would love to hear your thoughts. Personally I think that you have to dress appropriately for the circumstances. And if you are in a sales situation you should take the time to find out the perspective of the person and company you are going to see.

Thinking like this is still quite prevalent.  I was at an event recently and chatting away to someone who said:

“This event seems to be better than the last one I went to in London. It was full of scruffy gits, who couldn’t dress properly and not one of them was wearing a suit!”

Beware of taking a short sighted attitude like this in todays modern business arena. Some of the most wealthy, dynamic, forward thinking business people I know would never dreamof wearing a tie, never mind  a suit. Some you wouldn’t get out of their flip-flops!  However, if you were selling to this guy (he was a Sales Director) you would never get anywhere without a suit as a minimum. It’s not right because we all like to believe we are judged on the value we bring rather than appearances, but it still happens.

My own personal philosophy was very much moulded in my teens and in particular one instance when I went to buy a car. WhenI was 19, I was fortunate to be in a position to go and buy a brand new Volkswagen Golf through the family business. Although I was technically a University student at the time this was to be a ‘company car’. The problem was I  dressed like a student. And not a very good one at that!

I remember walking through a few showrooms where the salespeople just ignored me as if I was not even there. Yes, I looked scruffy but I as good as had a cheque for £15,000 in my pocket to spend.  I never really found any one to take an interest in me and had to force myself upon a salesperson after I got fed up of looking around garages. I will always remember that lesson.

Be careful who you judge!

If you are in sales then dress appropriately. If in doubt you can’t go wrong with dressing smartly or one way of putting it is  to dress how the people who advise your potential client dress i.e their bank manager and accountant.