Business Success and Professional Image

PART ONE

You and your business are seen as one package in the eyes of your potential customers. Your professional image has a great impact on the success of your business. Your customers look at the whole package before they decide to do business with you.

Do people judge you based on how you dress, talk, and behave?
You bet they do!

Knowing that, are you presenting a positive professional image of yourself?
If your image needs a slight improvement (hopefully it doesn’t need an “intervention” : ) do you know where to start?

Among other things, your customers and business associates will judge you based on these factors:

1. How you dress
2. How you talk

How you dress and how you talk are both important aspects of your professional image.

How you dress
The way you dress can greatly influence the way customers will perceive you. For example, when someone enters a bank they expect people working there to dress and behave conservatively. On the other hand, if they go to a beach resort and want to hire a scuba instructor, they would be looking for a different type of person altogether.

Too casual?
Years ago a client needed legal services. I sent him to a highly competent attorney I knew. My client’s wife called me that afternoon to talk about the meeting. What I got out of the conversation is that she questioned his competency.

Why? At the meeting he was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and flip-flops! Since I had worked with him before and I could vouch for his competency, I assure them he was the right choice. They ended up using his services and they were really happy with the outcome.

Final thoughts:  If you choose an outlandish way of presenting yourself to your customers you run the risk of not getting their business.
Once you have an established reputation in your field, you no longer have to adhere to as strict dress code. But it’s still going to be an issue with the newcomers or people that don’t have a clue who you are! (Then it’s a good idea to have someone vouch for you : )

This concludes Part One of Business Success and Professional Image.

Come back for Part Two on Friday.

Mariana Fieraru

Mariana Fieraru, an Eastern European transplant, fell in love with her new home shortly after landing in New York. She "discovered" pizza! Years later she still loves pizza. And so do her two feathered-kids, Sunny and Flipper

Mariana worked on both, the east and the west coast.
Big or small, each project she worked on helped define the importance of gaining and sustaining a competitive edge in an increasingly complex business environment.

Business know-how, love of teaching and writing – all combined in 2006 to form OBI.
Its mission: to make learning fun! And easy.

Through its training, consulting, and publications OBI builds bridges of knowledge to take you from where you are to
where you want to go. Using a mix of serious, informal, analytical, and optimistic approach, OBI truly makes learning fun.

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