Let me preface this post on the fact that I haven’t bought new clothes in over a year and a half. Sure, I may have bought a sweater or two, but that literally is about it. The harsh reality is I’m so darn picky when it comes to shopping for threads that I avoid it like the plague. Combine that with my added frugality (thanks, Dad) and you’ve got the workings of a poorly-dressed hipster-dufus like myself.

So last week I decided it was time for a new wardrobe. My casuals were looking too casual and my formal attire was looking, well, casual. So Saturday Lindsey, Sadie, and yours truly took to the streets to find me some new clothes. We ventured to Fashion Place mall in Salt Lake City where they have an Express for Men retail store, which I’ve always wanted to buy from. I’m preppy at heart, and they seemed to offer the San Francisco look that I was going for. Boy, did they ever.

We must have stayed at the men’s boutique for 2 hours. Clothes were flying everywhere. I felt like an emperor or something ’cause store employees just kept bringing new styles, sizes, etc. I’ve never been treated so well in a clothes shop. The apparel seemed as if it were tailor-made, cause everything just fit so well. Maybe it was the mirrors, but at the end of the day I had racked up on lots of good stuff. It was a relief to finally buy new materials, and ones that actually fit me.

The other side of the story is that during all of this, I realized how poorly dressed I’ve been over the past year and a half. I must have met with 75-100 prospects to close new business during that time. I closed some. I lost a lot. How many prospects could I have closed were I better dressed? Sure, I know buying goes much deeper than physical appearance, but we just hired two new individuals, and they were coincidentally the two best dressed interviewees.

So how much do you value physical appearance when buying a product or service from someone? And do you dress for success?