PressEvening Standard
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From chief executives to receptionists, staff learn how to dress smartly, add gravitas to their voice and improve their body language.
"If someone wants to run an international company and he wears a Swatch watch or a Mickey Mouse tie, it gives the wrong message," said Toshiko Kobatake of north London consultancy Talking Image, whose clients include KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and IBM.
"Often people have no idea and their friends won't tell them. It may be harsh but it's my job to help them close the gap between what they want to project and how people perceive them."
Lesley Everett of Walking Tall, another "personal branding" firm, said, "It is not just about looking professional, it's about projecting your personal brand values. You already have a personal brand, whether you've consciously developed it or not. It is a collection of the perceptions that others have about you."
Angela Baron of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development advised caution.
She said: "Brand image is worth a lot of money to organisations. Training their staff in customer service is one way to protect it and recruiting people they think will fit their corporate image is another.
"But the new anti-ageist legislation means recruiting young go-getters could be discrimination. I can understand companies wanting staff to be aware of what the company stands for but you don't put people on some kind of training course for that - you do it instantly reflecting those values in how you treat those people."
But image consultant Sue Ruston, whose clients include Tesco and Procter & Gamble, said: "It's not about stamping and branding people in the same way you would a product.
"It's much more about helping them bring their personality through - and the personality of their company. Companies want the customer to understand what their values are and expect staff to represent those values.
"Your skills will get you so far but people make such snap decisions you haven't got long to impress them. To be taken seriously and put yourself ahead of the competition you need to project skills and values visually."
She said key mistakes made by workers included wearing badly fitting clothes, failing to project their voice in meetings and appearing bored at work.
For booking appointments or enquiries, please contact Toshiko: Tel/Fax: +44 (0)20 8458 4597 |
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SOME of London's top firms are hiring 100-an-hour image consultants to make sure their workers look and sound the part. 