Companies spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars to make the right first impression of communicating who they are and what they stand for. Before a box of cereal
reaches the grocery store, scores of “experts”
already decided what that particular shade of
pink on the box might mean to the buyer. Does
it stand for warm and fuzzy or wimpy and
weak? One of the key answers depends on if
the customer is a man, woman or child.
With all of this money being invested in the
packaging of the product, it is startling to realize how little thought, time and effort are spent
on packaging the “packager” — the person presenting the products, goods or services.
Over the years, business has evolved in terms
of expectations of how associates dress in the
workplace. I prefer to call it “packaging the person.” From the mid-1960s through the 1980s,
business attire for men meant a suit, tie and any
color shirt as long as it was white. For women,
it was heels, pantyhose, and mid-calf- or knee-length dresses.
The mid-1990s ushered in the new Silicon
Valley dress code that was defined as “whatever floated your boat.” To exude coolness
and confidence, the extreme power players
dressed in the new ultracasual business
look, which meant wrinkly khakis and T-shirts with provocative messages or two-word expletives emblazoned on the shirt.
Shoes were optional. Anyone wearing socks
was immediately labeled a nerd. This look
spread from Northern California’s valley of high
technology to Wall Street’s Lower Manhattan
faster than the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s worst expectations of what
might happen one day with the bird flu.
Then one day some executives must have
mused, “Hey, business is soft, earnings are in
the dumper and production is down. It must be
the way our people dress.”
These geniuses probably never thought the
cause could be bad financing, poor quality and
dumb management decisions. On the heels of
this epiphany came the “dot-com crash,” and
the Wall Street types were issued mandates
that wrinkled khakis and T-shirts were now
only appropriate for cleaning the garage and
not for schmoozing customers. As they say,
“What comes around goes around.”
So, what is the right look for your organization? The decision must be made on what
you’re selling and how you want to package yourself and your team to make
that right first impression. Before you
utter your obligatory greeting, the customer has already formed an impression, not only of you
and/or your representatives but also of the
organization. The first key to the haberdashery
puzzle is whether one is the buyer or seller. The
buyer usually has the edge and can dress as he
chooses — often extremely informally. The
savvy buyer understands, however, that conveying an image of power and authority might
eventually help tip the scale when the negotiating process commences.
If you want to create an image of decisiveness, intellect and expertise, it’s hard to beat
the traditional business look. This is particularly apropos when selling abstracts and intangible services when, in fact, brainpower is the
product. If you’re selling the very chic iPhone,
then a black turtleneck and jeans work just fine
— Thank you very much, Steve Jobs.
When we started my company, not only did we not have much money, but we also worked
out of an office where the rent was $1 per
square foot, and we were probably overpaying.
No doubt, the impression from this corporate
headquarters was “nouveau poor.” Attempting
to overcome this deficiency on the first day, I
wore my best business suit. The other six people who joined me in this start-up appeared in
jeans, golf shirts and flip-flops. As I welcomed
the team for our first meeting, I ignored superficial appearances and cut to the chase about
what we had to do and by when — before the
money ran out. A funny thing happened on the
second day; a couple of the folks showed up
dressed-to-win, and then a few days thereafter,
the balance chose to adopt our “corporate
look.” What they realized, as I did, was that if
nothing else, at least we had to look the part.
We had to show others that we were the real
deal, knew our stuff and had it together.
The trick is to set standards and know when
it is appropriate for traditional business garb
versus a casual look. Instead of “business
attire” or “business casual,” your dress code
should be known as “business ready,” so that
the total package reflects the contents and you
maximize your four-second opportunity to
make the best first impression.
MICHAEL FEUER co-founded OfficeMax in 1988 with a friend and partner.
Starting with one store during a 16-year span, Feuer, as CEO, grew the company to almost 1,000 stores worldwide, with annual sales approximating $5
billion before selling this retail giant for almost $1.5 billion in 2003 to Boise
Cascade Corp. Feuer immediately launched another start-up, Max-Ventures,
a retail/consumer products venture capital operating and consulting firm
headquartered in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. Feuer serves on a number of
corporate and philanthropic boards and is a frequent speaker on business,
marketing and building entrepreneurial enterprises. Reach him with comments at [email protected].