The ‘C’ word of personal impact

Personal impact, maybe you have given it a lot of thought, maybe you haven’t. One thing for sure is, people will be impacting you positively, neutrally or negatively all the time and you will be having an effect on them too.

It’s a key part of the profile you build through your presence in the market.

The 3 key ’tools’ that you have to communicate yourself and engage others are the visual ones of appearance and body language, as well as your voice. Thinking about these different aspects is pivotal in terms of firstly thinking about how you want to come across (authenticity is essential) and how you can use these ‘tools’ to your best advantage.

Read more about personal brand and image.

Consistency across ‘touchpoints’

However, the key over-arching point is consistency. This means making sure you come across the same whether meeting someone face-to-face, participating in a Teams call, speaking on the phone or through your social media presence; specifically, where professional life is concerned, on LinkedIn.

This is so essential as frequently people now encounter you in many different ways, for example when you are meeting a prospective client, they are likely to look you up on LinkedIn, before they see you at the meeting. These initial encounters, even though they are on-line, will set an impression of you in their mind (and potentially affect how they behave towards you). If when they meet you, the impression they get is completely different from what they saw in the LinkedIn photo, then at worst it can make them doubt your credibility or at best be a distraction, as they are trying to reconcile the 2 different ways you impacted them. People are more comfortable and trusting when they are clear who you are and what you are like. Trust is a foundation of good relationships, professional and personal. So keep consistency in mind.

I had a prime example of where this wasn’t the case with a new client of mine, I looked her up on LinkedIn before our first session together, the photo was fairly traditional and staid. When I went to meet her, she was wearing a more interesting outfit and full of life – her photo did not do her justice.
So thinking about how you want to be positively memorable, wherever others encounter you is essential to engage effectively and build good relationships, whether internally or with clients and prospects. The word to remember is consistency.

If you need to think about how you build a positive market profile and presence to gain the clients you want and the results you need, contact me to book a discovery call.