Your Executive Portrait and the Trustworthiness Imperative

How do we decide who to do business with and who to avoid?

This is a hard question to answer, sometimes. That’s because a lot of what draws us towards someone – or pushes us away from them – functions at a subconscious level. We might call it intuition, or instinct, or “going with your gut,” but whatever term we use, the fact is that a large part of our decision making is nearly instantaneous and out of our conscious control.

Once you’ve won a potential client’s business, you, of course, have the opportunity to impress them with your skill, dedication and competence. But how do you reach that point? Very often, the executive portrait you put on your website is your first point of contact with a potential client. And based on that contact, that potential client forms an opinion of you. They judge you, in fractions of a second, based on the executive portrait they see. They begin to bond with you in that moment. Or, if your executive portrait doesn’t foster connection, they don’t, and, in that case, chances are good that they’ll never reach out to you. You will lose their business before you ever had a chance.

Your executive portrait has to awaken that “gut instinct” in potential clients that says, “this is someone I can trust.” If your headshot doesn’t show you as trustworthy, it can’t create that bond. And if it can’t create that bond, it isn’t worth anything. If your headshot portrays you as trustworthy, you’ll automatically be judged as more intelligent, more stable and more competent. That’s why we believe it isn’t just important that your headshot convey trustworthiness; it’s imperative.

At C1M, we apply the principles of Facial Cognition™ to every Executive Portrait we craft. We’ll create an image that shows you as trustworthy, connects you with your potential clients, and gives you the inside track to landing the business you desire.

Visit our Executive Portrait page to learn more.

Walter Schnecker, CPP, CPC, CCH

Walter Schnecker is the owner of C1M Photography, LLC, in Amherst NH. He specializes in Executive Business Headshots and crafts hundreds of headshots each year for businesspeople in a wide range of professions.