Dress Code
I know I am new, and this maybe a little stupid. Oh, and I know some veterans may bash on me for it. But, what is the dress code like at some of the wirehouses, i.e ML, MS, AGE, EJ, SSB, RJA, LPL. I ask because I went to the bank and spoke with a LPL investment advisor, and he was just wearing a company polo, really relaxed. Again, thank you.
A well- dressed suit every day. Period.
Never know who might drop in. It's happened to me (numerous times) before I learned this lesson. Say what you what about appearance.....it matters.
TJ
I have had the experience of seeing different offices and bank programs and can give you some insight. It all depends on the market, the office manager and you. Some brokers will never wear a tie and they some what feel proud to admit that. Its like, I'm a big producer and I will wear what I please. I've seen this at SB, RJ, AG and MS but never at the bank platform programs. You might see a more causal dress code at banks like Wachovia but only at their Securities locations and not the branch. Never at Merrill they are like "Men in Black" the movie. White shirts and ties 100% of the time I don't think they have causal day. And I get the impression they sleep in suits.
One of the things I like about this business is that you can be who you want to be and dress that way you want to dress. and I have not seen any correlation between dress and level of production. So be who you want to be and find the right firm to accomodate you.
I wear suits everyday but I work in a 100% corporate environment. I do high net worth business and I never know who might stop by. So I'm always dress in business suits. Expecting one of my million dollar clients to drop by.
If you like the corporate look, interview several office managers and find and appropriate fit for you. I found an environment that fit me and my client and I'm pleased with my move.
I work for a regional bank and wear a nice suit 95% of the time. We have casual friday and if I don’t have an appointment on Friday I will some times go without a tie on, but I always have one ready if needed.
Chris
yes…was a stupid question. As far as I could tell, nobody answered your question. Just bunches of statements.
No, PeanutBroker- it was not a stupid question. We gave our opininions; agree/bash as you will.
Provide something constructive. Please.
If someone is paying you a salary, the dresscode is suit and tie. If you are straight commission and you produce enough, you can wear whatever you want.
[quote=anonymous]If someone is paying you a salary, the dresscode is suit and tie. If you are straight commission and you produce enough, you can wear whatever you want.[/quote]
I think that may have been the best answer on this forum!!
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=anonymous]If someone is paying you a salary, the dresscode is suit and tie. If you are straight commission and you produce enough, you can wear whatever you want.
[/quote]
I think that may have been the best answer on this forum!!
[/quote]
If you're paying yourself it's even more important that you dress for success.
Wearing anything other than a dark business suit when you handle people's money is a mistake.
Period.
[quote=NASD Newbie]
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=anonymous]If someone is paying you a salary, the dresscode is suit and tie. If you are straight commission and you produce enough, you can wear whatever you want.
[/quote]
I think that may have been the best answer on this forum!!
[/quote]
If you're paying yourself it's even more important that you dress for success.
Wearing anything other than a dark business suit when you handle people's money is a mistake.
Period.
[/quote]Oh Newbie we sooooo missed your wit and wisdom the last few days!
So tell me, how exactly is it that YOU know so much about owning yoru own business?
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=NASD Newbie]
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=anonymous]If someone is paying you a salary, the dresscode is suit and tie. If you are straight commission and you produce enough, you can wear whatever you want.
[/quote]
I think that may have been the best answer on this forum!!
[/quote]
If you're paying yourself it's even more important that you dress for success.
Wearing anything other than a dark business suit when you handle people's money is a mistake.
Period.
[/quote]
Oh Newbie we sooooo missed your wit and wisdom the last few days!
So tell me, how exactly is it that YOU know so much about owning yoru own business?
[/quote]
Every broker, whether working for Merrill or through LPL, is running their own business.
If you lose a single prospect because the client is not impressed with your choice of attire you have lost one too many.
When you handle people's money it is impossible to come across as been incorrectly dressed in a dark business suit.
That you would even attempt to argue a different point of view paints you as a fool.
There is a difference between doing what you can do and doing the right thing--sure you can show up to talk about my 401(k) rollover looking like you just stepped off the golf course, but it's just as incorrect as showing up at a funeral dressed in a plaid sports coat and white pants.
When you're so desperate that you flee a premier firm such as UBS for the higher payout offered by LPL you need all the help you can get--and one of the most easily implemented steps to success is to dress for as if you're serious.
Even though you know you're actually just a clown pretending to be.
"When you handle people's money it is impossible to come across as been incorrectly dressed in a dark business suit."
This may usually be the case if you are in your office in the city, but there are many scenarios where this is incorrect. This is not appropriate dress if you want to be trusted by ranchers, farmers, etc. on their property.
[quote=anonymous]
"When you handle people's money it is impossible to come across as been incorrectly dressed in a dark business suit."
This may usually be the case if you are in your office in the city, but there are many scenarios where this is incorrect. This is not appropriate dress if you want to be trusted by ranchers, farmers, etc. on their property.
[/quote]
Nonsense. Ranchers and farmers may not wear suits but they are not turned off by a guy who does. Especially if that guy is handling their money.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.
How do you know? Are you a farmer or rancher? Are these the types of people who make up your clientele. You probably feel the most comfortable around people in business suits. That's how you were brought up and how you ran your business.
Do you think that the farmer is most comfortable with the guy in the polished shoes and the $1,500 suit? Show up on a farm like that and you'll have instant distrust.
anonymous is totally correct. There may be farmers and ranchers who do prefer that their rep wear a suit, as newbie states, but I think they are the minority. I've worked with blue collar types who threaten to take a pair of scissors and cut of my tie if I don't remove it.
I think its a good idea to dress professionally for the first (couple?) of meetings, but as the rapport is developed you will get a better sense of what is appropriate dress and what is not. If your client tells you not to worry about the suit, then don't worry. You need to continuously earn their trust and if that means 'dressing down' then so be it.
[quote=anonymous]
How do you know? Are you a farmer or rancher? Are these the types of people who make up your clientele. You probably feel the most comfortable around people in business suits. That's how you were brought up and how you ran your business.
Do you think that the farmer is most comfortable with the guy in the polished shoes and the $1,500 suit? Show up on a farm like that and you'll have instant distrust.
[/quote]
As a matter of fact I do know a lot about selling to farmers and ranchers and can tell you that they do not distrust a banker in a business suit, nor do they distrust a broker in a business suit.
It's nonsense to think anything else.
Just because they will not kick you off their property if you show up wearing jeans and boots does not mean that they would not be more impressed if you didn't.
What you're saying is that farmers and ranchers are ignorant and can be manipulated by what somebody is wearing. I think more of them than to conclude that.
"If you lose a single prospect because the client is not impressed with your choice of attire you have lost one too many."
Sorry, NASD, but a farmer or rancher won't be impressed by someone standing in their mud wearing a new suit. Wear a suit in your office and look professional. Wear a suit in the mud and look like a fool.
[quote=anonymous]
"If you lose a single prospect because the client is not impressed with your choice of attire you have lost one too many."
Sorry, NASD, but a farmer or rancher won't be impressed by someone standing in their mud wearing a new suit. Wear a suit in your office and look professional. Wear a suit in the mud and look like a fool.
[/quote]
As I've said I have experience with farmers and ranchers and I have never met with them in their fields or elsewhere where there would be muddy conditions.
It was normally in their home, but a lot of them had very nice offices somewhere on the property.
If they happen to put you in a situation where you get your business shoes muddy they will apologize rather than think you a fool.
They are not as stupid as you seem to think they are.
[quote=NASD Newbie][quote=joedabrkr] [quote=NASD Newbie]
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=anonymous]If someone is paying you a salary, the dresscode is suit and tie. If you are straight commission and you produce enough, you can wear whatever you want.
[/quote]
I think that may have been the best answer on this forum!!
[/quote]
If you're paying yourself it's even more important that you dress for success.
Wearing anything other than a dark business suit when you handle people's money is a mistake.
Period.
[/quote]
Oh Newbie we sooooo missed your wit and wisdom the last few days!
So tell me, how exactly is it that YOU know so much about owning yoru own business?
[/quote]
Every broker, whether working for Merrill or through LPL, is running their own business.
If you lose a single prospect because the client is not impressed with your choice of attire you have lost one too many.
When you handle people's money it is impossible to come across as been incorrectly dressed in a dark business suit.
That you would even attempt to argue a different point of view paints you as a fool.
There is a difference between doing what you can do and doing the right thing--sure you can show up to talk about my 401(k) rollover looking like you just stepped off the golf course, but it's just as incorrect as showing up at a funeral dressed in a plaid sports coat and white pants.
When you're so desperate that you flee a premier firm such as UBS for the higher payout offered by LPL you need all the help you can get--and one of the most easily implemented steps to success is to dress for as if you're serious.
Even though you know you're actually just a clown pretending to be.
[/quote]Newbie I appreciate your offer, but I don't need your help, trust me.
Amazing, really, how I ask you a simple-admittedly pointed-question, and you respond by resorting to ad hominem attacks, and yet you don't answer my question.
Whether a broker at Merrill REALLY knows about owning and running his own business is a matter open to debate. But that's not what I asked, is it? I'll repeat it again, using short words so as to enhance your comprehension: Sir Newbie-how do YOU know about running your own business? From first hand experience? Please, do tell!
[quote=NASD Newbie][quote=anonymous]
"If you lose a single prospect because the client is not impressed with your choice of attire you have lost one too many."
Sorry, NASD, but a farmer or rancher won't be impressed by someone standing in their mud wearing a new suit. Wear a suit in your office and look professional. Wear a suit in the mud and look like a fool.
[/quote]
As I've said I have experience with farmers and ranchers and I have never met with them in their fields or elsewhere where there would be muddy conditions.
It was normally in their home, but a lot of them had very nice offices somewhere on the property.
If they happen to put you in a situation where you get your business shoes muddy they will apologize rather than think you a fool.
They are not as stupid as you seem to think they are.
[/quote]LOL...and financial advisors are not nearly as stupid as you middle-management wirehouse bureaucrats would think us to be, either.
[quote=joedabrkr]
Sir Newbie-how do YOU know about running your own business? From first hand experience? Please, do tell!
[/quote]
I will not compromise my identity by playing games with you--however, I am the majority owner in a business that has had its doors open for more than 25 years.
I do not man the business, but I know all about what has to happen, dealing with the "monthly nut" and so forth.
It's not rocket science--as demonstrated by the fact that you're trying your hand at it.
What do you think you're dealing with that a Merrill broker doesn't have to deal with?
[quote=anonymous]Sorry, NASD, but a farmer or rancher won't be impressed by someone standing in their mud wearing a new suit. Wear a suit in your office and look professional. Wear a suit in the mud and look like a fool.[/quote]
Well said anonymous, reminds me of a story my rep tells at seminars to clients.
A guy drives up to a field in a nice car and steps out in an expensive suit, and says to a sheepherder, "If I can tell you how many sheep you have out in that field, will you let me have one?"
The shepherd says, "sure, why not?"
So the guy gets out his palm pilot and does a few calculations, and tells the astonished sheperd exactly how many sheep are in the field. Reluctantly, the shepherd allows the man to select his animal.
As the man is struggling to get the animal into the back of his Jaguar, the shepherd calls out to him -"Hey want to go double or nothing? I bet I can tell you, what YOU do for a living, if I can you have to give it back."
So the man says all right.
The shepherd says, "You are a financial advisor."
The shocked man says, "how did you know?"
"Well, you showed up without an appt, you took up my time, you came overdressed, and you know nothing about my business, now give me back my dog!"
It's all about building rapport with your clients.
It's hard to build rapport if the farmer, blue-collar worker, etc. is uncomfortable (read - not able to concentrate) with the FA sitting in his $1500 suit & Gucci shoes. Even if business etiquette dictates our dress standards, we still have to use common sense.
[quote=NASD Newbie]
[quote=joedabrkr]
Sir Newbie-how do YOU know about running your own business? From first hand experience? Please, do tell!
[/quote]
I will not compromise my identity by playing games with you--however, I am the majority owner in a business that has had its doors open for more than 25 years.
I do not man the business, but I know all about what has to happen, dealing with the "monthly nut" and so forth.
It's not rocket science--as demonstrated by the fact that you're trying your hand at it.
What do you think you're dealing with that a Merrill broker doesn't have to deal with?
[/quote]Don't worry Newbie, none of us would want you to compromise your identity. As far as "playing games", if you didn't have that what would you do to pass the time?
OK, so you own a business that has been in operation for 25 years. Bully for you. For all we know it could be an ice cream stand somewhere in the middle of Fort Worth.
You understand that-in most months-revenues must be greater than expenses. That's also a good thing.
You do not "man the business", as you have admitted, but "know all that must happen". But yet, what do you really know from first hand experience about how one gets all those "things that must happen" accomplished? For that matter, what about all the things that need to be accomplished that one didn't plan for at the beginning of that day?
Arguing over dress code is silly. No one dress code is better than the other, it’s just different. The clientel that you work with and culture of the company should dictate dress code. If you’re working with farmers, don’t wear Gucci shoes & Armani suits. If you’re working downtown with business execs, don’t wear bib overalls.
[quote=exEJIR]
It's all about building rapport with your clients.
It's hard to build rapport if the farmer, blue-collar worker, etc. is uncomfortable (read - not able to concentrate) with the FA sitting in his $1500 suit & Gucci shoes. Even if business etiquette dictates our dress standards, we still have to use common sense.
[/quote]
Do they sell business suits that don't cost $1,500? How about shoes, do they have anything except Gucci?
You will never find a successful broker, or banker, who agrees that it is ever inappropriate to be appropriately dressed.
Lots of failures will say that dressing like a golfer is their "style." But why would you want to model yourself after a failure?
I happen to agree regarding the wearing of suits, or at least a jacket and tie. That being said, why do you equate a golf shirt with failure?
It's simply not so.
[quote=Starka]
I happen to agree regarding the wearing of suits, or at least a jacket and tie. That being said, why do you equate a golf shirt with failure?
It's simply not so.
[/quote]
Some guy who does not grasp the importance of dressing the part is a failure in that he not reaching his full potential.
If you do not reach your full potential you have failed to a degree.
Almost all of us are failures when held to that standard, including me--but a financial type is not giving themself a fair chance if they don't dress like a mortician.
[quote=Starka]
I happen to agree regarding the wearing of suits, or at least a jacket and tie. That being said, why do you equate a golf shirt with failure?
It's simply not so.
[/quote]In case you hadn't noticed, Newbie is obsessed with certain things-and people. The wearing of golf shirts, and his oft used phraseology about "showing up for a meeting looking like a golf pro" would be one of those obsessions.
I bet the guy has the Chinese laundry put starch in his boxer shorts.....
[quote=NASD Newbie][quote=anonymous]
"If you lose a single prospect because the client is not impressed with your choice of attire you have lost one too many."
Sorry, NASD, but a farmer or rancher won't be impressed by someone standing in their mud wearing a new suit. Wear a suit in your office and look professional. Wear a suit in the mud and look like a fool.
[/quote]
As I've said I have experience with farmers and ranchers and I have never met with them in their fields or elsewhere where there would be muddy conditions.
It was normally in their home, but a lot of them had very nice offices somewhere on the property.
If they happen to put you in a situation where you get your business shoes muddy they will apologize rather than think you a fool.
They are not as stupid as you seem to think they are.
[/quote]
I do deal with farmers and ranchers on a daily basis in my practice and did so also when I was a lender. We have all had this conversation before. There ARE occasions where you will be meeting your rancher clients in less than pristine conditions. Unless you are at EDJ, you are not meeting your client for the first time at the ranch doorstep, therefore they have had plenty of opportunties to see you in the more formal office attire. They know how you dress when in the office and if you aren't smart enough to be flexible when visiting in an outdoor location they will certainly be thinking "stupid city slicker" and secretly laughing at your stuffed shirt attitude.
Below is a post I did on this in the past.
As to the clothing. I dress up when I'm at work. That means in my office, visiting clients at their businesses or homes or giving a presentation at a seminar. However, I have learned that you need to be flexible when off premises. At a luau or theme event, then you should of course dress according to the theme.
Also when visiting a client's business establishment you need to use some common sense. Here is an example. I had to inspect a large cattle operation to whom we were making a loan. Checking for brands and earmarks, that the breed was the one we were lending on, count the legs and divide by four to make sure the herd was as represented (that's an inside joke), check the barns, equipment etc. After all this was the collateral. The only way to do this barring getting on a horse and riding the range (and I've done that too, a great way to get out of the office!) was to go to the stock yard when the cattle were gathered before moving them to other pasture/ranges. They were testing the cows for pregnancy (Don't ask how. You don't want to know.)
So my attire that day wasn't my usual heels and dress suits. Instead I had on rubber boots, jeans and a long sleeve shirt and leather gloves. If I had showed up "all gussied up" I would have been a laughing stock, not to mention having ruined permanently my shoes.
It is ok to get out of uniform occasionally.
I also have had to go to get papers signed at logging operations. Ever try mincing around a log deck in high heels? Wrong. Wear a nice pair of slacks and decent walking shoes for that occasion, shoes that you can hose off later.
I would not get out of my car on a farm or ranch and reach for my coat, but I damn sure would have on a tie.
Then, in the presence of the client I'd say something like, "I'm dressed too formal for being here," and I'd pull the tie off and put it in my briefcase.
I suppose carrying a briefcase is wrong--that when you're dealing with farmers and ranchers you should carry a pillowcase over your shoulder?
Do any of you think you're actually going to survive in this business?
[quote=NASD Newbie]
I would not get out of my car on a farm or ranch and reach for my coat, but I damn sure would have on a tie.
Then, in the presence of the client I'd say something like, "I'm dressed too formal for being here," and I'd pull the tie off and put it in my briefcase.
I suppose carrying a briefcase is wrong--that when you're dealing with farmers and ranchers you should carry a pillowcase over your shoulder?
Do any of you think you're actually going to survive in this business?
[/quote]And exactly how long did YOU "survive" as a registered rep"? What are you doing now? Oh yeah, that's right, "retired". That's what they call it these days?
[quote=joedabrkr]
And exactly how long did YOU "survive" as a registered rep"? What are you doing now? Oh yeah, that's right, "retired". That's what they call it these days?
[/quote]
don't forget- he's executive vice president of a popcicle stand in mid-town NY- tho he's not actually running it day to day, he does know where the nuts are.
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