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Whitepaper on Customer Messaging Must have Adobe Reader 8.0
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DRESS FOR
SUCCESS
By Tom Reilly, author Value-Added Selling (McGraw-Hill)
You can't judge a book by its cover, or can you? As someone who
has been in the business of selling books for the past 20 years, I can tell you
that covers do influence potential buyers. The same thing applies to salespeople
and dress.
The casual movement in business attire has devolved into flip flops, tee shirts,
and shorts. I'm not kidding. In one of my recent seminars a young salesman
showed up in this attire. I thought he was there to clean the windows. He was
sharp, as his participation proved, but he always looked like the guy that was
there to clean the windows.
Like it or not, buyers judge books by their covers. Perceived value, dress in
this case, influences expectations. Why not use it to your advantage? Dress to
the top of your market, not the bottom. Dress for the job you want, not the one
you have. Dress for the image you want customers to remember.
I understand that in some industries, e.g. construction, some salespeople may
need to get their hands dirty. That is not an excuse for sloppiness. If you wear
a company logo golf shirt, make sure it's clean and without stain. If you wear
khaki work pants, have them pressed. Starched logo work shirts look better than
wrinkled shirts. Clean work boots are better received than muddy work boots when
calling on a customer's office. You can dress to your market and still look
professional. Do you think you will have less credibility with equipment
operators if you look like a professional?
It seems silly that we have to discuss this with intelligent salespeople, but
you cannot believe the number of sales managers that want me to talk to their
salespeople about their image. The fundamental question is this: Do you look
like a professional in your business or do you look like the guy that is there
to wash the windows?
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