The Art and Impact of Professional Image

As stated in our book authored by Jim Stovall and myself entitled, “The Art of Communication—Your Competitive Edge” (2016), Sound Wisdom Publishers, our ability to impress our customers—our clients—makes or breaks our business or our practice whether it be a commercial enterprise, a medical practice, or a church where the minister is the center of focus. If our services and our sincerity in providing our services are of the highest quality, and we demonstrate the knowledge and skill that is necessary to assure the public that we are capable of maintaining the high quality of our services than we should do well. Right?

I emphasized the word should in the sentence above. The reason? The reason is that there are many businesses and medical and non-medical practices who possess the knowledge and skill to be a success, but do not achieve the level because of the image that they portray.

How do we achieve the level of success we dream of? The processes entailed in enhancing our professional image and the art of public relations involves communication at one of its highest levels. We are communicating our image and the worth of what we stand for to those we serve, or desire to serve!

Here are some suggestions regarding both the establishment of our professional image and the art of public relations:

1. We are who we are. Does that make sense? In other words, we are how we present ourselves. For example, body language has been found through many years of research to comprise at least 70% of what we say to our customers. That includes how we appear, how we act, how we dress, how we sit, the gestures we use, the jewelry we wear, how we walk into a room, the hygiene we practice, and so many others that it is difficult to list them all. They are all important components of how we present ourselves to those we serve.

2. Be punctual for meetings and appointments. But, don’t be too early. The person you are to meet with may have other things planned for the few moments prior to your meeting, so don’t interfere with those by being there fifteen minutes early. Simply be on time.

3. No matter how bad the day, be polite. Don’t take your bad day out on your clients by telling them about it.

4. Be appropriate in all behaviors—no off color jokes or remarks no matter how innocent they appear to you.

5. Be pleasant, be a genuinely good person, be empathetic, be nice.

6. Be a good ambassador to your profession.

7. If a client comes to you wanting their money returned or is making another demand that you may think is unreasonable, no matter what the reason, think — if I were the client or associate, how would I want this handled? How would I respond if that person was my relative or my friend. Then, handle it that way.

8. Always remember this rule—We are here to serve, not to judge.

9. Work hard to be a flexible and creative problem solver.

10. Affirm your commitment to helping people and how much you enjoy the opportunity.

In my next column, I will be emphasizing the topic of the importance of personal appearance in our professional life. The appraisal of us by our clients is generally solidified within the first 2 minutes (or less) of meeting with us. And, the first impression is difficult to erase.

Ray H. Hull is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at Wichita State University.