We are all guilty of this to a certain extent. We all have our own preconceptions and make hasty judgements on other people and businesses.
You know when you are dressed in business attire that people take you more seriously in certain places than if you turn up in casual clothes.
Today I am dressed in a fairly casual dress and cardigan (usually I wear a suit to work) because I have no client meetings. I called into a stationery store to pick up some stuff and needed help. The sales assistant took ages to acknowledge me and I had to wait until she finished her personal conversation with a colleague before she did. Usually I would have interrupted but as an exercise I thought I would observe. When she eventually turned her attention to me I told her what I needed and she told me which aisle to go to. OK. Within five minutes I was still undecided and was about to leave the store when the same sales assistant came into the aisle literally falling all over herself to help a gent wearing, yes you guessed it, a suit! Now I cannot be sure if the reason for this was because (a) he was male or (b) he was wearing a suit or (c) both but I can tell you that the assistant’s total attitude had changed.
He purchased some envelopes totalling £3.05 – had I purchased from them (I didn’t) my order would have been over £75. Instead I made a complaint and took my business elsewhere.
The moral of this story? Don’t judge a book by its cover. Treat every prospect as a valuable customer and you inrease your chances of them becoming exaclty that.
