Looks Matter
Scott Dubay had been a long-haul truck driver for five years and was tired of the way he was often treated at truckstops and docks. One day, he threw on a tie with his usual button-down shirt.
"The results were incredible," says the Pennsylvania driver. Suddenly, he was being treated as the professional he felt himself to be. "The new level of attention and respect I receive from almost everyone I come into contact with is unbelievable. Instead of throwing the fuel receipts at you, fuel attendants call me sir, or "Mr. Dubay.' I get a little preferential treatment at the docks, people going the extra mile to get me through faster. As I drive down the road, I receive looks of admiration and respect from four wheelers -- that is something that I have only heard about as legend, in how people used to view truckers as the Knights of the Road."
All this - just from wearing a shirt and tie.
Let's face it: No matter how many times your mother told you, "Don't judge a book by its cover," for most people, appearances - especially first impressions - can make a world of difference. All the image-building programs in the world have a hard time making up for bad impressions.
Dubay's company tried to make shirt and tie a requirement for all its drivers, but backed off after meeting resistance from drivers. But even though the shirt and tie didn't go through, Dubay says, the dress code did seem to improve. Management had the office workers dressing in shirt and tie to help inspire drivers, he says, and pretty soon he noticed drivers dressing better - at least wearing a polo shirt, for instance, instead of a ratty T-shirt with an obnoxious message.
Of course, how your trucks are "dressed" is important, too. Joe Panepento has been in the construction business for 18 years in New York state. Having sharp-looking trucks was so important to him that he's been making his own chrome accessories for his Mack trucks all that time and recently started offering them to the general public as JP Chrome. At the end of each day, each of Panepento's trucks is washed and shined so it's ready to make a good impression in the next day's work.
"When we show up with a vehicle that looks like you're prosperous, your customers have a different view of you," he says. "It's like the difference of going out in a rag-tag shirt and a holey pair of jeans versus a nice pair of slacks and a button-down shirt."
And it's not only customers that notice the difference, but also law enforcement officials, local government officials, and the general public. Take a well-maintained, shiny, chromed dump truck and show it off in a local parade, and it will help counteract peoples' less-than-positive images of dump trucks on the road with no working taillights and debris flying from the un-tarped dump body.
At TCA, part of their image-building effort involves encouraging fleets to change their own focus on drivers and image.
For example, "it sounds silly, but don't let the independent contractor have the growling face on his rig," says Nancy O'Liddy, TCA's director of public affairs and marketing. Big teeth on the grille of a big truck may seem like harmless fun to a truck driver, but intimidating and evil to the driver of a small car when seen in the rearview mirror.
"Even changing the look of the truck can make a difference, which is why I'm glad they came up with something to put on trucks in this new ['Good Stuff: Trucks Bring It'] campaign. I think just those simple kinds of things can make a big difference.
—Deborah Lockridge
