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Mickyplumb

Afternoon gents,

Just curious and this is probably aimed at the one man bands. Going back to the old days all my 'teachers' wore baggy jeans, butts hanging out and holes in the knees. Tops were normally stained Adidas tee shirts. Generally, they looked a bit of a mess.

What do you guys wear and those of you that do dress smart, what difference do you think it makes to how the customer perceives you and your services ?

We have white polo's (not ideal sometimes) with company logo left breast, GSR logo left sleeve, Grohe logo (c/w) appointed service engineers on right breast and on the right sleeve the Exor accredited contractor logo.

Very rarely wear jeans, normally snickers type trousers.

Interested to know.......
 
Never in jeans.
Work trousers or shorts with kneepads
steel toe caps

need to order some work tops actually.
 
I think if I was a squirrel I would be starving by now, everyone can see where I hide me nuts
 
I always try to do my quote visits on evenings or weekend.'Smart 'set of work clothes with company details or smart casual.If I have to come from work I make sure they know I will be coming in work clothes.You are representing your company and with some clients it is a bit like an interview situation.As a sole trader you are selling yourself as the 'face'of the company.It is then how you come across a person and your ability to convince them of your competence.
 
I always try to do my quote visits on evenings or weekend.'Smart 'set of work clothes with company details or smart casual.If I have to come from work I make sure they know I will be coming in work clothes.You are representing your company and with some clients it is a bit like an interview situation.As a sole trader you are selling yourself as the 'face'of the company.It is then how you come across a person and your ability to convince them of your competence.

Exactly.

I went on a sales course once as a Worcester approved installer, probably 15 years ago now. It was more geared around being able to offer finance to customers (long before strict FSA rules).

We were given a list as to pick out the most likely reason that a possible client may choose you over another htg eng.

In the list were cheapest quote, puntuality, etc, etc.

2nd top answer was you would be chosen because of your presentation.

Top answer was surprising......you would have more chance of wining the job if you were a 'normal' person and was able to converse with client about everyday things as opposed to just plumbing and boilers !

Being chosen for being the cheapest was right down the list, mind you, people had a bit more money back then.
 
I think presentation is a must! Tells people exactly what type of tradesman you are.

If you have trousers thats full of silicone, paste, paint etc that normally tells people what tradesmen they are like compared to a tradesmen whos got clean clothes

Either that or hes bought new clothes
 
Being chosen for being the cheapest was right down the list, mind you, people had a bit more money back then.

Nah, they only thought they did. Actually they were just running up debts, or constantly re-mortgaging to keep up with the joneses.

Real average household incomes, adjusted for inflation, have risen steadily since the war, with real-terms drops only occuring in 1981 and 2010. And they were chicken-feed compared with the ***ulative rises.

Its an absolute myth that people buy on price. If they did, Heatline or Biasi would be market leaders and not Worcester and Vaillant. The vast majority of people buy "perceived value for money". All the cheap boiler makes put together wouldn't sell as many boilers as a single model - Vaillants 831.

If you are self employed, your job is to convince people that you will be good value. That includes how you look. Too smart is wrong. Wearing a suit would make me think of double glazing salesmen. But covered in silicon is not smart enough - at least not for a first call.

You have to decide whether you want to present as a Vaillant 831 plumber or a Biasi plumber.
 
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spare set of clean clothes behind seat in van for if im doing a quote stright from tools , van is ALWAYS clean and tidy as some come out to greet you or wave off. if they come to wave off i make a point of opening side doors so they can see inside is clean and tiday too.
 
"You have to decide whether you want to present as a Vaillant 831 plumber or a Biasi plumber."
Very eloquently put Ray, like it
 
I wouldnt turn up to price a job through the week too tidy. My work clothes are lived in. If somebody wasnt going to employ me because I had a bit of paste/silicone/dust on me then I dont want to be working for them. Theyd be follwing you round with the hoover.
 
We always wear snickers trousers and polo shirts with logos on we used to have blue work wear,but the wife seen a tradesman in black work wear and said it looked smart so we went to black workwear last year. don't think colour makes any difference but I do personally like the black so will be sticking with it.
I know not many do this and it is so simple and that is wear overshoes, I know we get work from just doing this simple thing quoting and working.
 
We have a pritty boy who can talk legs of donkeys. He hates cats but will sit and stroke it for ages if he can smell a sale. U do surveys clean ish trousers and my customer fleece
 
Nah, they only thought they did. Actually they were just running up debts, or constantly re-mortgaging to keep up with the joneses.

Real average household incomes, adjusted for inflation, have risen steadily since the war, with real-terms drops only occuring in 1981 and 2010. And they were chicken-feed compared with the ***ulative rises.

Its an absolute myth that people buy on price. If they did, Heatline or Biasi would be market leaders and not Worcester and Vaillant. The vast majority of people buy "perceived value for money". All the cheap boiler makes put together wouldn't sell as many boilers as a single model - Vaillants 831.

If you are self employed, your job is to convince people that you will be good value. That includes how you look. Too smart is wrong. Wearing a suit would make me think of double glazing salesmen. But covered in silicon is not smart enough - at least not for a first call.

You have to decide whether you want to present as a Vaillant 831 plumber or a Biasi plumber.

Intersting facts about people's financial situations. There certainly seemed to more of a 'feel good' factor back then though, but probably just false security.
 
Reckon presentation is massively important always turn up to quotes and jobs in company branded gear with a few cards in the pocket. Customers like courtesy I find remember pleases and thank yous. Shoes off without being asked or break out the overshoes always gets nice comments. If I'm doing a gas job or quote I try n wear a shirt or jacket with gas safe on just to show quals to custard
 
I must admit to being a bit of a tramp, jogging bottoms and casual top as i feel comfortable in them.
This year though I'm going to get proper work clothes with company labels stitched into them to try and upgrade my company image :lol:
 
Smart Suit, flash car X.... clapped out old van scruffy work clothes X...... Modest clean van or car with smart trousers and company logo polo shirt ?
 
I think it's a balance, if you look to squeaky clean and like you've never done an honest days graft customers might not trust you to do their work. you have to expect plumbers to be a bit rough around the edges after all you don't need to wear a tux to dig around in u bends!
 
I think that its the first thing new customers see (excluding the van sometimes) and the first few seconds someone sees you, they judge you a lot so you need to get it right. so for me i dress (builder)smart as i call it.
snicker trousers, polo shirt (with company logo), builders fleece/coat (with company logo).
always carry spares in the van, just in case something happens before you arrive at a customers house
 
Clean socks, fresh shirt everday. A clean reliable looking truck, sign written with a landline number
and the mobile web address. Clean dustsheets - and a smile when they open their door CHK
 
I'd get more than a smile if I turned up just in clean socks and a shirt :wink5:
 
Shoe cover when you step into house..... Gives them a false sense of security and that fitter will treat house with similar respect!
 
Nice to hear that there's neat and tidy plumbers out there !

The shoes off thing or shoe cover thing i think really tells the customer straight off the bat that you respect them and their property. This something we always do, i have customers saying it's refreshing to see a tradesman that cares.

Don't know if it's true but apparently BG guys can't remove their footwear in as much as if they drop something on their toe and it is found that they weren't wearing footwear then they won't get sick pay if they have to take time off ???
 
Clean socks, fresh shirt everday. A clean reliable looking truck, sign written with a landline number
and the mobile web address. Clean dustsheets - and a smile when they open their door CHK

got it in one, especially landline no, means they can get you, only problem is the old folk always leave messages on the land line coz mobiles are more expensive to ring!!!
 
Nice to hear that there's neat and tidy plumbers out there !

The shoes off thing or shoe cover thing i think really tells the customer straight off the bat that you respect them and their property. This something we always do, i have customers saying it's refreshing to see a tradesman that cares.

Don't know if it's true but apparently BG guys can't remove their footwear in as much as if they drop something on their toe and it is found that they weren't wearing footwear then they won't get sick pay if they have to take time off ???

That's not exclusive to BG, think about it, you are told you must wear company workwear and safety shoes/boots so how can you take them off cause the customer has a nice clean carpet, blue paper shoes on at the door every time, even if the customer says don't bother, I always say it's no prob, I would rather put them on, TBH in some houses it helps keep my shoes clean, and in the clean ones it just removes and doubt that you left a mark on the carpet
I would never take my shoes off in someone's house, you could injure your foot, then who pays the wage while you recover, and anyway I'm not walking about people's houses in my socks, I mean they need to last me all week
 
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Always in proper work trousers, don't have any branded shirts cos I hate polos, but I always wear plain black/blue dickies/snickers tee shirts. Gas safe and bpec cards round my neck.

I wear trainers generally. Primarily cos they're easy to slip off when I walk in the house.

My biggest problem is resisting the temptation to cover all my clothes in silicone, paste and flux.
 
Always in proper work trousers, don't have any branded shirts cos I hate polos, but I always wear plain black/blue dickies/snickers tee shirts. Gas safe and bpec cards round my neck.

I wear trainers generally. Primarily cos they're easy to slip off when I walk in the house.

My biggest problem is resisting the temptation to cover all my clothes in silicone, paste and flux.

Not sure what's worse, trainers or taking your trainers off
 
allways worktrousers ususally snickers 100s and usually snickers polos with my logo on I were black sambas unless im on site and normally carry a little file to keep all my paperwork in order and also keep a tape mesure and about 15 pens in there nothing looks worse than asking the customer for a pen to write the job in the planner
 
I must admit to being a bit of a tramp, jogging bottoms and casual top as i feel comfortable in them.
This year though I'm going to get proper work clothes with company labels stitched into them to try and upgrade my company image :lol:

check out engelburt strauss workwear.

great hard wearing stuff and they can out your logos and such on.

look at the style es stuff.

and they do summer workwear that has got ventilation and uses more breathable material!

just you cant wear it in the winter or you end up with an icicle and a pair of snowballs very quickly!

they do winter workwear thats more insulated too actually.
 
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