The Power of Wearing a Uniform

What would you think if you went to a baseball game, and before the game began, the mega salary baseball players run onto the field and take their position. As you look, you see that one is wearing a sweatshirt and cutoffs, another is wearing a t-shirt, and one player is wearing a golf cap and tennis shoes. A few players are wearing NBA basketball shorts. Imagine a scenario where your UPS person drives up in his nice shiny brown truck with gold lettering and is wearing a bright red t-shirt that has the words “Coke is the Real Thing” on the front? Finally, how about a policeman who pulls you over for speeding and he is dressed in a sweat suit with the words “party on dudes” on the front, and is wearing a orange and white polka dot bandana on his head?

Dress Codes in Question
In any of the above scenarios how would you react? Clearly these people are not creating the impression you would expect from the organizations they are representing. Today many companies have seriously relaxed their dress code and have lowered the standards for professionalism in their company. In some cases, “casual Friday’s” have some employees looking like they are getting ready to clean out their garage. This kind of dress reminds me of the saying, “Casual dress leads to customer casualties.”

Here is my point. Your company can create a distinct competitive advantage by adhering to a dress code that employs the use of an attractive uniform. There are many types of uniforms. Some can be more relaxed in nature, while others can be more formal.


Examples of Uniforms
For example, employees at a print shop can wear attractive golf shirts with the company logo on the left and the employee’s first name embroidered on the right, plus black pants and black shoes. A more formal example could be a dark blue blazer, open light blue shirt with taupe colored pants and black dress shoes. If you wanted to make it more formal you could do so by adding a tie.

Choose Attractive Uniforms
Another example demonstrating formality would be all men wearing a dark suit and tie and a magnetized name tag. Ladies would wear a women’s pant suit or matching skirt and name tag. The key is to find an attractive way to dress your staff in a way that communicates to your customers that you are a team.

Among the benefits for wearing a uniform are:
*Easy identification for customers.
*Conveys to your customers that your employees are part of a team.
*Allows your employees to feel part of a team.
*Creates an professional image of a staff who are accountable and organized.
*A professional image allows you to charge more for your services or products.

My recommendation is to get your employees and mangers involved and come up with a dress code policy that allows your company to set itself ahead of the competition and boost its’ professional image.


If you are interested in a better career in customer service visit www.customerservicejobs.com

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. He helps companies and organization become more successful and profitable by helping them attract and retain their customers