And don't go overboard on the suits. If you are going to be showing up for meetings in an advisory position, it is sometimes an advantage to dress to the customer's level or even a bit below, especially if you have a youthful appearance. Clients will always forgive a young fellow for showing up neat, clean and well-tailored in inexpensive clothing, but might well be distracted by what is apparently very costly clothing. Well-tailored blazers and sport coats with neat dress slacks can sometimes present an air of confidence and comfort that settles customers down. Know your customers. I was a technical consultant in the paper industry for years and when I was invited to or hosted a social affair with the "big guns" in the industry (evening out or weekend at a resort) I made it a point not to "dress up" to the point where I looked fancier than my clients. When you're socializing with a fellow to whom you've been pitching $$$$ technical-service/sales deals, it behooves you to make him comfortable and make him look good. I once showed up to a social affair when my company's sales manager and technical manager, and a critical client-in-the making and I were all wearing affordable lightweight tweedy-looking silk jackets from S+K. We made a joke out of it, especially after it turned out that each of our wives had selected the jackets, and we had our picture taken together. We joked that our wives had called each other up and conspired to have us show up dressed alike, etc. The client's wife was a good sport and went along with the "conspiracy" story and we had a wonderful evening.
That production manager (akin to God in a paper mill) was a real down-to-earth guy and since he knew me from mill visits and had never met my managers before, he might have been put off by blue pin-stripe suits, etc. As it was, we got the conference organizers to adjust dinner seating arrangements so that we and our wives could sit together and we started a pretty comfortable two-way business relationship soon after.
