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Insights and Expertise
StreetSmarts SM
Are suits still required for sales?
By Allen Kopelman Before long, tennis shoes and dockers began to replace
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. wingtips and oxfords. And the tech boom poured gas on
the fire as younger business owners and tech company gi-
emember when payment professionals dressed ants sported T-shirts and gym clothes at the office.
like bankers and dress codes were part of the
ISO and agent playbook? There's no doubt My advice to anyone who wants to project a casual but
R employees got into a festive mood on Fridays professional image would be to wear a logo polo. If you
when they wore polos and khakis to the office. But dry walk into a business in a suit and tie, 99 times out of 100,
cleaners weren't cheering when businesses began to ditch you will be overdressed.
the suit and tie and make every day a Casual Friday!
Twenty years ago, when bankers were our biggest com-
Blame it on Honolulu, says workplace.io, a UK-based petitors, we dressed like bankers. Today, fintechs are our
workspace provider, noting "Aloha Fridays" began in the competition and they wear T-shirts and polos—and some
1940s and rapidly spread to other states. "Over time the skip the dress code entirely because they’re not even hu-
occasion has spread to the rest of the world, and has no man. Yes, we occasionally compete with automated robots
doubt become more prevalent due to increase in evidence that don't even answer phones.
that employers should attempt to proactively increase KYC, KISS
staff morale."
Fashion-forward fintechs Want to know what else has changed in 20 years? Our
customers' buying habits and priorities. Today’s mer-
After decades of struggling to reimburse staff for travel chants are more concerned about technology than who
and commuting, businesses began to encourage employ- is handling their money. Loosely translated, this means
ees to work from home, a trend that accelerated during two things: know your customer (KYC) and keep it simple
the Covid pandemic. Over time, business owners eased (KISS) by thinking about tech first and merchant services
into casual dress, with tieless, partially open dress shirts second.
and turtlenecks layered under suit jackets.
Merchant level salespeople (MLSs) need to observe how
their customers dress and speak. Even attorneys don't
wear suits outside the courtroom. In most cases, wearing
If you walk into a business a logo on a polo or a button-down logo shirt with no tie is
in a suit and tie, 99 times out of 100, 100 percent acceptable.
you will be overdressed. If you're anything like me and host mostly virtual meet-
ings, I'd advise against using fake backgrounds. Phony
backdrops may have had a moment during the pandemic,
but today they just look phony. Most people would rath-
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