To be politically correct today, many organizations have set aside Fridays for their staff to dress more casually. For professionals in the sales and service industry, this is a big mistake on the part of management. In research conducted in the 1990s by John Malloy, author of the acclaimed Dress For Success series, we found that people have an idea of what sales and service industry professionals should look like.
According to Malloy; When a banker dresses up on Fridays, customers do not see the image they have in their mind of what a banker should look like, so confidence levels are significantly lowered, making it difficult to close sales. Malloy also teaches that the sales rep should dress a notch above their prospects to give the impression that they are experts. Dressing formally means that one day of the week your representatives are not seen as industry experts and that could be costly for your organization.
Often times, a younger sales rep or service professional will grow a beard or goatee to appear more mature to prospects, clients, or clients. However, additional research by John Malloy suggests that wearing facial hair can cost a sales or service professional up to 30% in sales success, because a lot of decision makers find that beards look sinister or offensive. They consider that the representative who wears a beard or goatee is not as trustworthy as a representative who is clean-shaven. In a recent study reported by Fox News, more than 90 percent of the women surveyed prefer men to be clean-shaven over those with facial hair. . You must ask yourself if allowing staff members to dress casually or wear beards is worth the lost revenue for your organization.
