Is a suit essential for the modern entrepreneur?

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DanMartin

DanMartin

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  • #1
    An interesting point raised by the judges in BusinessZone.co.uk's recent Dragons' Den style competition The Pitch was the importance of dressing smartly. They commented that in their view not all the contestants had made an effort with some forgetting the importance of wearing the right clothes when stepping up in front of investors.

    But what do you think? In the modern business world, is a suit an essential ingredient for company success? Let me know your thoughts and experiences below.
     
    dave_n

    dave_n

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  • #2
    Of course it is!
    It's irrelevent whether you are visiting a hippy commune or a blue chip company, you have to portray a professional image from the offset.
    Obviously dress codes may vary according to the client/business once on-site, but it's vital that the first impression is correct IMHO.

    I've never seen anyone criticised for wearing a suit!!!!
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

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  • #3
    Yes, it's important. For the business launch competition in which we participated, the first of the four teams presenting in the finals wore suits but no ties. Members of the audience (investors, small business owners, etc.) were surprised, and I heard several comments about it. I don't know whether the judges felt the same way, but why risk it?

    Years ago, I attended a meeting in Poland wearing a jacket and tie. After the meeting, our local agent in the country gave me quite a dressing down. Apparently, anything other than a dark suit was disrespectful, especially since I was meeting with C-level managers.
     
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    OldWelshGuy

    OldWelshGuy

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  • #4
    I NEVER wear a suit (apart from funerals, weddings and DJ dress code) I always wear smart trousers, a collar and cuffed shirt, no tie. I do business in a relaxed mode and if clients don't like it, then they are not my type of client. I think it is important that a good fit between consultant and client is made.

    That said, i HAVE worn a suit & tie when I have had to attend a meeting with my clients client or other associates. I do this purely out of respect for my clients business. It rarely happens and has occurred twice in the last 12 months. I meet at directorship and ministerial level of the Welsh Assembly Government, and it is 'no tie' there as well.

    I am really not there to be judged on my dress sense, I am there because of my ability and contribution to the project.

    As I said, if there is a dress code then of course I would follow it, and out of respect, I always ask what my client expects. Out of respect, they are truthful with me :)
     
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    B

    biomed86

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  • #5
    I think its important to always at least look smart, for example smart shirt/blouse, smart trousers/skirt, if not wearing a suit, as in the business society, smart dress seems to portray professionalism and credibility. People are more likely to take you seriously. I don't think it's necessary to wear a suit all the time, and it can depend on the type of meeting you're attending. But for a first time meet with potential investor or clients, there's no point risking it, I'd wear a suit just in case something like dress code is going to influence the outcome of the meet.
     
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    R

    rss

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  • #6
    I very rarely ware suits. A shirt and jacket usually suffices. Ties almost always seem a bit over the top unless it's a meeting with the bank manager or- as OldWelshGuy points out- when requested to by a client.

    Dressing smartly for business meetings is a given as I want to be taken seriously, and want to portray the right image for my business, but I try to avoid overdressing as this wouldn't be representing my business in the right way. I don't like to take things too seriously and think that a tie sometimes portrays that you're doing just that.

    All that said, it really does depend on the situation. 98% of the time you'll find me in jeans and a t-shirt, or a polo/button-up shirt if you're lucky, as I work from home. If you see me in a suit, you should consider yourself extremely honoured. You'd have witnessed a marvel :D
     
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    Tom McClelland

    Tom McClelland

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  • #7
    I'd usually wear a suit for a first meeting unless I'm the customer, in which case I'll wear whatever I feel comfortable in. I don't judge potential suppliers by how they dress unless they're really sloppy.

    If there are further meetings I'll usually dress casually. (warning the people I'm meeting with if this seems appropriate, the most common reaction is relief and they dress down too).
     
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    T

    TotallySport

  • #9
    Suits are just a way for the upper classes to look down on the working class, I judge people on the way they treat people, and the way they come across, a suit is just asthetic nothing more.

    I will add is if you are well dressed in general it can provide an important first impression, but if you cannot follow that up with conversation and knowledge then the suit means nothing, but if you come in a tracksuit and can answer all the questions asked, provide above average understanding on the topic, and bring personality then people should see beyond the tracksuit.

    Since I have worked for myself I have never worn a suit, a shirt or a tie, or even normal trousers and I don't intend to start now.
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

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  • #10
    TotallySport said:
    Suits are just a way for the upper classes to look down on the working class, I judge people on the way they treat people, and the way they come across, a suit is just asthetic nothing more.
    Click to expand...
    There are times to stand on principle (such as never compromising personal integrity) and there are times to admit that discretion is the better part of valour. While I hate wearing a suit and tie, I'm not going to risk upsetting someone by showing up at a business meeting without them. Rarely if ever is anyone criticised for wearing a suit to a meeting; plenty of times are people criticised for not wearing one. It has little to do with the class system; it has everything to do with showing respect to those with whom you're meeting.
     
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    templarmc

    templarmc

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  • #11
    I think the issue here isn't the wearing of the suit, or not, it's the intimation of respect it brings/portrays. Like Old Welshie said, he makes a point to ensure his dress sense reflects the environment he will be in.

    Just wearing a suit does not necessarily make oneself smart. Some guys look so out of place in them, or even shabby & clearly uncomfortable, that they actually have the opposite of the desired effect.. However, I also think you can never look too smart, or over-dressed in a clean, smart, well-cut, well-coordinated suit.

    Wearing a suit DOES bring gravitas, respect and is conducive to setting a good image - but it has to look right too. For instance, suppose a guy turned up for a business meeting in a double breasted, pastel coloured suit the likes of which Barry Venison got exiled by the fashion police for wearing by tawdry, tacky, cheesy clobber......

    Conversely, wearing a suit without a tie, or 'dressing down' does not necessarily make one fashionably trendy or different. A lot of it is down to making the right effort ultimately; that's one of the reasons for dressing up in the first place - you're making the effort to smarten up according to convention, or your own dress standards.

    To answer the question - IMO a suit is essential, but wearing one isn't. Better to have it & not need it, than need it and not have one, or not wear one through choice & it have a detrimental effect.
     
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    deniser

    deniser

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  • #12
    If you are the client you can wear what you want. If you are the seller of whatever service it is whether banker, accountant etc then you should wear a suit as a starting point. Then you can adapt according to the client.

    The male lawyers I used to work with always wore jeans and a shirt but if a client came into the office, they swapped the jeans for suit trousers and put on a jacket and tie. If they saw the client wasn't wearing a jacket and tie they used to yank them off quickly. If it was a client well known to them who dressed casually they would just stay in the jeans.

    But anyone new was always met in a suit until you worked out what they wore themselves.
     
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    T

    TotallySport

  • #13
    Cornish Steve said:
    There are times to stand on principle (such as never compromising personal integrity) and there are times to admit that discretion is the better part of valour. While I hate wearing a suit and tie, I'm not going to risk upsetting someone by showing up at a business meeting without them. Rarely if ever is anyone criticised for wearing a suit to a meeting; plenty of times are people criticised for not wearing one. It has little to do with the class system; it has everything to do with showing respect to those with whom you're meeting.
    Click to expand...

    Class might have been a bad example, but I will stick with it. But I don't respect people on what they wear, i respect people on what they do and how they do it, I don't mind if they have a tweed pink oufit with clown shoes and spiked orange hair, sun glassed all with matching orange spots, as long as they come across well once after speaking to them and prove they can do the job well I am happy.
     
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    G

    GreatSEO

  • #14
    Personally I think todays generation is a little different to yesterday's and this is proven in a number of situations I have been in.

    I attended a massive seminar 5000 people about 9 months ago and most of the 30's and under were wearing latest designer suits with vicar/dog collar shirts with no ties and looked very smart.

    The majority of 30ish+ were wearing a single/double breasted suit with a tie.

    I also think the comments above are very valid you dress for the situation. I have a friend who sells double glaxing and he turns up in trackies and a t-shirt (believe me they look twice) the first thing he does is mention the price before he even steps in the house etc. It works for him and he has only ever had 1 person complain about the way he was dressed in 5 years and he is one of the top sales persons in the company.

    I think it depends on the way that you represent yourself and what you are as to whether you need a suit or not and then it is very much down to whether you wear the tie or dont.

    I do however know a very good tailor that will visit you if you need a good fitting suit and they are well priced :')

    Regards

    Dave
     
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    dave_n

    dave_n

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  • #17
    TotallySport said:
    Class might have been a bad example, but I will stick with it. But I don't respect people on what they wear, i respect people on what they do and how they do it, I don't mind if they have a tweed pink oufit with clown shoes and spiked orange hair, sun glassed all with matching orange spots, as long as they come across well once after speaking to them and prove they can do the job well I am happy.
    Click to expand...

    that may be true for you but what about situations when you are going to meet a client.

    if you were meeting a client for the first time and there was a chance of raising revenue from the meeting would you turn up looking like an extra from Tommy?
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

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  • #19
    Thinking about this, here's the main issue for me. It's all about the customer, not about me. I prefer not to wear a suit, but if the customer expects me to wear one, I will. I'm willing to suppress my personal preferences and comfort in order to make the customer feel respected and special.

    As others have said, it depends on the situation. If I show up to a meeting and am the only one wearing a tie, I'll ask them if it's OK to take off my tie. Invariably, of course, they say it's fine. On the other hand, it's embarrassing to show up at a meeting in which everyone else is wearing a suit and tie and you are not. In other words, it's better to dress up and then relax than to dress down and regret it later.
     
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    6

    6consulting

  • #20
    Absolutely you should be in a suit for a meeting. I remember years ago sitting in on an interview, the lad comes in with a suit on but missing the tie. My boss who was interviewing asked this "If I employ you, will you turn up to my clients looking like that?".

    The interview lasted 5 minutes. Slightly over the top perhaps, but as a rule go suited and booted unless otherwise instructed.
     
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    templarmc

    templarmc

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  • #23
    Aha, Warren Buffet and Carlos Slim Helú wear suits, and they're richer than Bill Gates. Maybe if he wore a suit he'd get past 3rd spot on the world's rich list.......

    Maybe if Mike Ashley sold suits instead of trackies he'd wear them? He's not exactly a bastion of sound business practice is he though, and what he wears typifies the thread trend.

    Folks that don't wear suits are usually not doing so to make a statement, that they're a maverick, or don't care a jot for convention. I'm sure if by wearing a suit, it would suit (no pun intended) their business, they would do - or else they're not really good businessmen, no?

     
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    AdamJ

    AdamJ

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  • #25
    I don't even own a suit. If I'm meeting prospective clients then its a shirt and jacket with something non-jeans but that's it. I figure that they'll soon enough work out whether we're good at what we say we do - and we are - and base their decision on that. In the last couple of years we've managed to get some nice big multi-nationals on board so we're doing OK despite the dress-code.

    (One of the policies for the lads out on the road is specifically no ties - I don't like the artificial barrier it throws up when they're meeting people when they spend 99% of their time working with shop-floor people).
     
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    Jenni384

    Jenni384

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  • #27
    I do have a suit, and various smart outfits, but I only wear them if I absolutely have to.
    Most of the time in the office I will wear jeans, the exception being if I am meeting a potential client for the first time.
    While I think a suit does not really mean much, I appreciate that people do form opinions on how folk look, and will act accordingly.
     
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    estwig

    estwig

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  • #28
    No no no, you should wear Vans or Sketchers trainers, jeans by Diesel, Bench or Levi (boot cut of course) and a shirt by Quicksilver, Duck and Cover, Firetrap, or my current favorite Mantaray (or anything from Fat Face, my god what a shop!!!) and sun glasses from Police.. If it is a posh do then shoes from Jones the boot maker

    Suits my ar*e!!!!

    :)
     
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    estwig

    estwig

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  • #30
    People so don't get clothes........

    You only get one chance to make a first impression!!!!!

    If the people you are going to meet are likely to be wearing a suit, then wear a suit.....An expensive one!!!

    People who wear cheap clothes they don't like look uncomfortable, it is not about what you wear it is more about how you wear it. If you need to wear a suit then wear good suits, if you don't then wear good clothes.

    If you are comfortable in clothes from Primark, that's fine.

    If you feel you must wear a suit..........Then don't, the fact you feel you must wear it will come across in your choice of suit and your general demeanor, you will look uncomfortable.

    Clothes maketh the man.

    :)
     
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    OldWelshGuy

    OldWelshGuy

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  • #32
    Cornish Steve said:
    Thinking about this, here's the main issue for me. It's all about the customer, not about me. I prefer not to wear a suit, but if the customer expects me to wear one, I will. I'm willing to suppress my personal preferences and comfort in order to make the customer feel respected and special.
    Click to expand...

    Exactly what I said in my first post (but took 200 words to say :D)
     
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    M

    MK Financial Solutions

  • #33
    I think how you dress depends on what you do and who you are meeting and what day of the week it is. When I go to colleges etc to give talk on debt, I wear casual clothing. When I am having a meeting with other businesses, I wear business clothing (minus the tie). I would not want my plumber/builder to come and see me in a suit. I think all professions have "uniforms" and in some professions formal clothing will be expected. (may be, perhaps, probably I am being old fashioned, but then we live in a free world).
    At the end, it doest matter if I was wearing a tree piece suit or jeans, if what I was offering was beneficial to the other person, he/she will not care about my clothing.
     
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    OldWelshGuy

    OldWelshGuy

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  • #34
    estwig said:
    People so don't get clothes........

    You only get one chance to make a first impression!!!!!

    I don't WANT to impress anyone ;)

    If the people you are going to meet are likely to be wearing a suit, then wear a suit.....An expensive one!!!
    I own 2 suits now (I dumped all my suits and ties when i sold the last business) One suit is a lovely Dior that my wife bought me. The other is a bespoke black one that i wear to funerals, always with a double cuffed shirt and seriously expnsive cufflinks. I wouldn't bee seen by the dead in anything less :D


    People who wear cheap clothes they don't like look uncomfortable, it is not about what you wear it is more about how you wear it. If you need to wear a suit then wear good suits, if you don't then wear good clothes.

    If you are comfortable in clothes from Primark, that's fine.

    I have loads of stuff from Primark I often wear a pair of £100 trousers with a £2.50 polo shirt from primark, why? because I liked the colour, and no matter how much money I have had in the past, i never forgot my roots. It SURE AS HELL makes life easier when you fall down occasionally ;)

    If you feel you must wear a suit..........Then don't, the fact you feel you must wear it will come across in your choice of suit and your general demeanor, you will look uncomfortable.
    I agree with this, I am 100% comfortable wearing a suit I chose not to wear one because I can.

    Clothes maketh the man.
    But more often than not they disguise the true man (hence my reluctance)

    :)
    Click to expand...


    One final thing. If I wear a suit, without a tie, it will be with out a formal shirt also, it would be with a roll neck shirt or a polo shirt.
     
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    templarmc

    templarmc

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  • #36
    The whole crux here is the environment, the market, the customer's likely expectations etc. - not the make of suit, if a tie is worn, or what a provider's dress sense is.

    The fact remains that the suit is just one criteria alone, but to some people, in some sectors, it's more important than in others it seems.

    I actually agree that 'dressing down' is a skill, but as goldy steve said, it's all about the customer. If by not wearing a suit, it alienated me and possibly put me one step back to start with, I would wear one. In my business, wearing a suit is simply de facto, unless the situation requires not to. However, it also gives a massive positive impression where my competitors fail, but after all it's just one factor, not the be all & end all.

    I don't judge people by the clothes they wear, well not entirely. However, as esty says, it's not just a case of wearing a suit makes someone smart. Some guys should exercise a bit more sartorial navvy when dressing, and sometimes no tie-no suit does look smart, especially if fits in with the scenario, the company, the customers etc.

    Although dressing down is becoming more prevalent, it's still generally industry specific and it's still a safer bet than not wearing one - unless you're fully aware of the scenario beforehand.

    I can see there is a perception that ties, suits etc. sometimes form barriers, but in the big scheme of things this is surely in the minority. People still seem to have an inherent, positive reaction to a suit, don't they?

    As a sweeping generalisation, i.e. not industry specific, if a person had to meet someone they was looking to make a positive impression on, could anyone safely say they would actively not wear a suit? Surely common, and commercial sense, decrees one should be looking to gain any advantage, any positive result by any means?

    It's okay quoting known mavericks like Branson and Gates, but although suits may be falling out of over with the growth of the tech boom, new media, independent free spirits are coming to the fore, the number of suit wearers may be declining but they are still in the majority.

    PS. I'm ex-military, so that probably explains my stance somewhat.
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

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  • #39
    A couple of months ago, a big customer called a head honcho to complain that the account manager wasn't wearing a suit for meetings. It caused quite a kerfuffle because the expectation is most definitely that anyone doing business with them will wear a suit; this director-level contact felt disrespected and upset enough to make a fuss over it. The company, which spends billions every year, had every right to complain.

    Like it or not, important people in many industries expect you to wear a suit and tie. In other countries, it's just as important if not more so. We can pretend it's otherwise, or we can dig our heels in, but what's the point if we lose business? No one ever lost business by wearing a suit.
     
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