Wearing a Cowboy Hat Boosted my Sales Conversion by 204%

Originally posted on WolfofYorkStreet.com

For the last three years – my signature Australian akubra has been my trademark. Everywhere I go – people recognize me by the hat alone.

Being the marketer I am – I like to test any good hypothesis before making it common practice. When I pondered on this further – I realized that I had never actually taken the time to test whether my look has actually helped or hindered me in a business setting.

My Experiment

Come RSA Conference. 45,000 attendees. The Perfect Place for my Experiment to take place.

I decided on Day 1 I would wear the hat and on Day 2 I would go without. Here are the results.

Day 1 (Hat): 72 Face to Face Chats, 65 contact details exchanged – 90% success rate. Of the people I then followed up with 22 replied back via email – meaning that roughly 30% of everyone I spoke to on Day 1 is now an active part of my network. (Excuse this photo below but I had to do it)

Day 2 (No Hat): 44 Face to Face Chats, 31 contact details exchanged – 70% success rate. Of the people I then followed up with 9 replied back via email – meaning that 20% of everyone I spoke to on Day 2 is now an activate part of my network.

Side by Side

So it seems that simply by wearing a hat – I was able to dramatically increase both the amount of people I talked too, the rate at which I could get their contact details and increase the likelihood of receiving a reply after the conference.

Obviously the statisticians amongst you (including me) will allude to the fact that there would be many variables that would impede my ability to do a controlled test – however I feel the statistical significance of this has given me further belief in my theory that my hat allows me to:

• Be remembered
• Stand out in the crowd
• Convey my extroverted character to attract complementary emotional/personal character fits

However in looking normal; of the 9 people that replied, most of them were very senior executives – possibly alluding to the fact that although this may fly for the average person, corporate individuals with a more conservative background may not be attracted to the concept. In my defense – I always argue that long term; my true personality may not resonate with these more stern individuals as much as it does with people who may be attracted to my more overt nature, thus they are not solid prospects anyway.

Your Test

Whether it be a hat, bow tie, different coloured suit – try this at your next meeting/conference and see the difference for yourself. Let me know what you think in the comments below!