Dressing for meetings

Beware of overdressing for meetings with client, especially if you're going to be at their offices.  As a consultant you want to be seen as a colleague and not a job applicant.

My rule is to go 'one up' on clients.  I try to dress marginally more formally than they do.

• If they wear chinos + jacket + tie then I'll wear a suit
• If they go without the tie then I'll wear chinos + jacket + tie
  
• If they wear open-necked shirts then I'll wear jacket + open-necked shirt (my preferred)

I will always at least carry a jacket and I never wear jeans, even at an off-site meeting.  I always wear leather shoes (not trainers) and socks (so no boat shoes).  I'm also aware that many clients have different dress rules for Fridays.

I know that some suppliers, especially creatives, get a buzz out of dressing as informally as possible because 'they can'.  To me that's tantamount to rubbing the client's nose in the fact that he's a wage slave?

For this reason I'd rather be overdressed and have a client poke a little fun at me for being 'stuffy' than be underdressed.  I can always claim to have another meeting that day where the client isn't as 'cool' as this one (flattery will get me a lot of places).

And a client who complains about any aspect of how I dress on more than one occasion is telling me, in code, that she doesn't want me to get the gig.