The sales strategy for dress is simple – if you want to sell expensive products, you need to wear expensive suits, ties, belts and shoes. You can’t take shortcuts or be casual about this. Casualness leads to Casualties. EVERY aspect of your dress and grooming must be of the highest standard. Dressing in expensive clothes should be one of your product marketing strategies.
Some people often think that they can buy a suit that looks expensive, but is actually cheap. Let me tell you one thing – everyone knows everything. A sophisticated client can pick a cheap suit across a crowded room.
How you dress is so important that you could lose the business if you make any mistakes. You can have the best selling tactics in the whole world, but still lose the deal because you don’t look the part. The rule is that the more conservative you dress the better.
I once read an excellent book called “Dress for Success” by John T. Molloy. It was written over 20 years ago and the fashions have changed many times since then, but the principles remain the same. I’m going to address each area of dress and grooming one by one, and give my best sales strategy for each area.
The suit must be 100% wool and the colour should be navy blue, black, or dark grey. A small pinstripe is ok, but not too bold. The suit should be the best quality you can afford. The best brands are better because they last longer. I brought two Feraud suits for $1200 each five years ago and they both still look like brand new – seriously. If I had bought a $500 suit, it would have needed to be replaced every year. Quality always is less expensive in the long run.
Shirts should be custom made and either 100% cotton or 80% cotton/20% polyester. The only problem with cotton is that it creases really easily so I usually specify a little bit of polyester to avoid this. You can’t notice the difference anyway and your shirt looks better at 5pm! A custom made shirt will cost between $100 and $200 and it will fit you perfectly. Don’t get too fancy with the colours. A sales manager once told me that I could wear any colour business shirt I like as long as it was white. I tend to agree. You can have one or two other colours to break it up, but at least 80% of your shirts should be white.
You can’t go wrong with a classic silver or gold cufflink. Watch should be silver or gold and it should match your cufflinks.
Ties must be 100% silk. I wouldn’t take anyone who wears a polyester tie seriously. Don’t try to make a statement with your tie. There are some people who wear Mickey Mouse or Homer Simpson ties and try to get a reaction from others. Well, they get a reaction – a negative one! You can wear plain ties, striped ties, or polka dot ties. It needs to be subtle and ideally will match your shirt and suit.
