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It depends on whether you normally are comfortable wearing a suit. If it makes you feel uncomfortable or gives you a 'dressed up monkey' feeling then better dr

by 0x12 15y ago

It depends on whether you normally are comfortable wearing a suit. If it makes you feel uncomfortable or gives you a 'dressed up monkey' feeling then better dress for your own comfort. If you are used to wearing suits, look good in one and feel more confident then by all means wear a suit. Pitching is all about confidence, anything that helps your confidence is good.

jonah 15y ago
To follow that then, at the same time you're practicing your pitch, work on your physical presentation as well. That could very well meaning getting consultations if wardrobe style doesn't come naturally to you or buying a suit and wearing it to other events to let it grow on you.
- arethuza 15y ago
  I have to sit through a lot of presentations from companies selling technology products - if the technical presenter is too slick and comfortable looking in a suit I probably assume that they don't really know what they are talking about as they probably spend their time on the road giving presentations rather than actually delivering value. Being strong technically and having a good story as to how you have delivered value to previous customers and how you plan to deliver value to us is infinitely more important than how you are dressed. [Edit: the best part of presentations is always to watch the face of the technical person when the sales person is giving their presentation - in my experience "real" technical folks don't have a poker face.]
  - 0x12 15y ago
    > they probably spend their time on the road giving presentations rather than actually delivering value. The two are not mutually exclusive.
    - rytis 15y ago
      I agree, you can't apply this as a rule, but in my experience (unfortunately) it's often the case. From what I've seen, a typical 'assault team' consists of: 'account manager' (usually clueless), 'sales manager' (same) and a 'technical person' (varies). There's hardly anything interesting coming out of the former two. The 'techie' guy competence seems to be a function of a company size. The smaller the company, the better his/her pitch would be and more useful information you'd get out of him. If the company is large, they tend to send 'technical sales' chap, who usually knows a bit or two, but largely delivers 'I'll have to check this with our technical team and come back to you on this'. Bear in mind, this is my largely technical POV. YMMV.
      - arethuza 15y ago
        Yeah, as far as I can see one of the biggest competitive advantages that smaller companies have is that they can actually wheel out the core technical talent in pre-sales scenarios.

by 0x12 15y ago

jonah 15y ago

To follow that then, at the same time you're practicing your pitch, work on your physical presentation as well. That could very well meaning getting consultations if wardrobe style doesn't come naturally to you or buying a suit and wearing it to other events to let it grow on you.

arethuza 15y ago
I have to sit through a lot of presentations from companies selling technology products - if the technical presenter is too slick and comfortable looking in a suit I probably assume that they don't really know what they are talking about as they probably spend their time on the road giving presentations rather than actually delivering value. Being strong technically and having a good story as to how you have delivered value to previous customers and how you plan to deliver value to us is infinitely more important than how you are dressed. [Edit: the best part of presentations is always to watch the face of the technical person when the sales person is giving their presentation - in my experience "real" technical folks don't have a poker face.]
- 0x12 15y ago
  > they probably spend their time on the road giving presentations rather than actually delivering value. The two are not mutually exclusive.
  - rytis 15y ago
    I agree, you can't apply this as a rule, but in my experience (unfortunately) it's often the case. From what I've seen, a typical 'assault team' consists of: 'account manager' (usually clueless), 'sales manager' (same) and a 'technical person' (varies). There's hardly anything interesting coming out of the former two. The 'techie' guy competence seems to be a function of a company size. The smaller the company, the better his/her pitch would be and more useful information you'd get out of him. If the company is large, they tend to send 'technical sales' chap, who usually knows a bit or two, but largely delivers 'I'll have to check this with our technical team and come back to you on this'. Bear in mind, this is my largely technical POV. YMMV.
    - arethuza 15y ago
      Yeah, as far as I can see one of the biggest competitive advantages that smaller companies have is that they can actually wheel out the core technical talent in pre-sales scenarios.