Telephone: 284-2400 The Revere Journal · Wednesday, February 2, 2000

At the Revere Chamber of Commerce Business Expo held at Suffolk Downs in November, more than 30 brave souls were willing to take the survey and give their opinion of what these four people, depicted in photographs, did for work and/or what type of salary they earned.

The survey was run by Robin Lassman of Perfectly Right, a local image consulting company.

Many people were afraid to guess at the jobs and salaries of the photographed people for one reason or another. According to Lassman, sometimes people were embarrassed because they see themselves in these pictures, especially after reading what others thought.

Another reason for hesitancy was that people did not want to be the first one to write their answers, afraid someone might see them writing it and think poorly of them.

According to Lassman, however, there are no right or wrong answers for the people in the photographs - just the first impressions of them felt by those taking the survey.

Research shows that the way we dress will determine how we feel and act, and how others perceive us, according to Lassman. When meeting someone for the first time, it only takes 30 seconds for someone to decide whether he or she likes the other person and whether he or she will do business with that person and his or her company. Many jobs are lost due to that first impression not being a very good one, as are promotions due to the lack of dressing professionally, according to Lassman.

In today’s casual world, it happens even more (another story - another time). Yet everyone can have the look of a professional if they want to, no matter what their financial status.

Is this unfair? You bet it is! As humans, Lassman said, we are very visual and very judgmental, especially in the professional world. Many survey-takers asked if these photos were of the same people - the answer is Yes! They are photos from before and after they sought the help of a professional image consultant. It was interesting that many made comments about Mr. Casual and his tie being too short, his leg showing a bit, but few mentioned his belt. At least we all agree that the tie should be an appropriate length and the socks should be higher.

Included below are the responses from those who participated. Next to some of the responses you will see a number which represents the number of people who agreed with that particular response. The responses are from people with various backgrounds, from blue collar workers to owners/presidents of either their own business or somebody else’s. Both men and women took part.

How you dress and present yourself can affect your effectiveness, your profitability, and, therefore, your career and the company’s success.

Lassman said she recently did this exercise at a workshop of all independent business owners and not everybody participated there either. As for the results, they were not much different.

Top