Making the Mark You Want to Make

Crucial Image Insights for

Professional People
Being a professional in today's business world means so much more than
simply knowing your job. It also means managing your image, the
impressions you make on others, differentiating yourself from others and
standing out from the pack, and above all, being successful. Yet in order to
be successful, you have to look successful; and not only that, you have to
act successful as well. This manual, therefore, was written to help you do
just that. It's filled with more than a hundred tips to help you look, act, and
be successful. They'll assist you with managing your image and charting
your course towards your ultimate destination, whatever that might be.
Please note that the vast majority of the tips in this eBook apply to men and
women alike. We all have issues with colour, skin care, impression
management, self-esteem, and so on. However, there are sections devoted
to gender-specific issues.
Finishing up the book is a section entitled Helping Your Self, which is a
collection of tips designed to help you get the most out of life, regardless of
your gender, position, or station.
It is our sincere hope that you find this eBook helpful in your professional
journey!
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CONTENT
Section 1:

Impression and Perception Management

Section 2:

Personal Interactions
Section 3:

Colour, Accessories, and Clothing

Section 4:

Womens Issues
Section 5:

Mens Issues
Section 6:

Helping Your Self

SECTION:1

Impression and
Perception Management
1.

Your Initial Impression on People

Ever wonder how people form their initial

impression of you? Scientific studies
have shown that impressions consists of:

55% Visual data, in other words, how

you look and act
38% Vocal data, such as the tone of
your voice
7% Verbal, or the meaning of the
words that you say only 7 percent!

Remember that all three of these areas

are controlled by your Attitude!
2. There Are No Second Chances
When we first meet someone, we make
an evaluative judgement about them.
This judgment is based on the data
presented above. Once made, those
judgements are entrenched in our minds
and are quite resistant to change. Due to
lack of any prior knowledge about them,
we tend to treat others as objects upon
our first meetings with them, placing an
emphasis on how they look and how they
sound.

can make a good impression in 90

seconds, and on many occasions in far
less time. Yet that good impression can
be destroyed just as easily with a bad last
impression. Even if youve established a
good rapport with a client, you ought to
never leave a meeting with them feeling
as if they were unappreciated, brushed
off, or treated rudely. If you do, they are
quite likely to dwell on that experience
with you, tie it in with other minor gaffes,
which will now be far out of proportion
leading to what you dont want, which
is them taking a look at your competition.

Subconscious Components of
Impressions
4.
3. Last Impressions
It is said in the entertainment industry
that Youre only as good as your last
song, (or movie). Its the same with the
management of impressions. You

Impressions you make on other people

can be broken down into four basic
components. Each of these is judged
subconsciously and by degrees. That is,
the results are not binary, or on/off. You
wont be judged as intelligent or not, but
your amount, or degree of intelligence
will be determined.
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SECTION:1

The four basic components are as follows:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Your Confidence: Your personal

demeanour, personal assuredness,
apparent level of power, ability, and
authority.
Your Likeability: How emotionally
expressive, affable, endearing and
sociable you appear to be, and also
how much you are like the others as
seen through your behaviour, voice,
dress, experience, age, gender, and
nationality.
Your Credibility: Your apparent level of
competence, trustworthiness, sincerity,
honesty, believability, level of
intelligence and apparent qualifications.
Your Personal Attractiveness: How well
you present yourself and manage
yourself as you are, as opposed to
however young, fashionable or slim you
might be. Excellent grooming and a
sense of style can say much about your
level of self-respect, confidence, and
self-esteem.

5. Managing Impressions, #1
Image management is all about deliberately
establishing a favourable impression so as to
assist others to believe what they see about
you. In other words, if you present yourself
to be a successful person, in terms of your
visual presentation as well as your
behaviour, then others will respond to you
accordingly.

6. Managing Impressions, #2
Think about the ideas presented just above,
the image dimensions of confidence,
likeability, credibility, and personal
attractiveness. If you had to rank these,
which of these would be most important to
you? How do you want to appear to your
clients or colleagues? If likeability is most
important to you, then consider wearing
textured fabrics, a mix of unmatched suits,
and lighter coloured clothing. These are all
generally perceived as being more friendly.
On the other hand, though, if authority or
competence are of more concern to you,
then consider wearing conservative clothing:
medium-dark to dark coloured.

7. Managing Impressions, #3
Theres an entire science behind impression
management. It has to do with all the
techniques and strategies used by people to
control the impressions and images that
others form about them during social
interactions. So that you can successfully
manage the impressions of others, youll
need to know how your different behaviours
will be accepted by the people in question.
You will also need to know what they expect
of you. Soon you will discover that its a vital
skill to quickly and precisely perform both
the verbal and nonverbal acts that will make
the image you want.