I am asked frequently why a headshot photo and a person’s Full (or Real) Name is required to be a member of the Business Golf Country Club.
Since we are rolling up quickly on approving our 500th member I thought it was again time to address this issue.
Recently I sat down with one of my clients who is a Human Resource executive at one of the fortune 100 companies (and who requested to be anonymous for obvious reasons) to have a conversation on the influence image as in doing business.
Naturally the focus of the discussion started with offline business imagery principles of how a person carries him/her self in the business arena. How someone speaks, their tone of voice, body language and attitude all play a huge part in how humans behave with each other.
However, online, all of these imagery principles are cloaked which leads to a natural instinct a normal human being would have of fear. In the business arena fear leads to thoughts of deception that works against building any business relationship. So the questions then became..
What can someone do to build a business relationship in the online internet market?
What can lift the veil of people who are out to deceive others?
There was a simple answer..post a Photograph and a Full Name of ones self. A person who is out to deceive others is not going to step outside the cloak to post a photo and a real name.
The question I had was..
What about the people who do not deceive but have a fear of what showing their real photo and name?
How does one address the fear they have in drawing in stalkers or the Time Bandits who are out to scam them?
The answer here, again, is simple.. security. Only market online in safe places.
Where or what are some of the safe places online?
As you can see, this was a very spirited conversation and discussion on human behavior. The talk continued on how human emotions applies to the business worlds, both online and offline. Exercising safety online is much harder to accomplish and little is done in most places a business person would go online to validate that the people around you are real people..real business people..or in the relevant sense..real golfers.
Offline, deception can be sniffed out though a person’s action, body language, tone of voice or arrogance.
Online the deception can be stopped 90% of the time by only dealing with people who are serious enough to post a Photo and Full Name.
Photo/Real Name Impact
What a photo tells about someone goes more than just how they look. Posting a photo shows they are serious about who they are which translates to them being serious about what they do.
What does posting a photo of South End of a North bound Mule tell about a person?
Studies are showing businesses that post only a Logo and a business name are less likely to draw as much attention online than they would if the CEO or even an employee of the business would draw if they posted their Photo and Real Name. Offline Logo’s and Business names play a huge part of marketing, but online these logo’s and business names unfortunately are tools for scammers and Time Bandits.
Photo Required
This discussion reinforces the policies the BGCC has adopted as a requirement to be accepted into the BGCC. Honestly, I have been very concerned with the large numbers of attempts people are making to be a member of the group but ignore this policy. I see that with the hundreds of membership applications I have declined due to the person’s lack of interest of posting a photo or real name, or both, that the BGCC must be a place many people see as a club they really want to join.
To eliminate deception and highlight a person’s honesty and professionalism a photo and full name is required to be a member of the BGCC.
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For the same reason you don't follow people in other social media arenas who are only using a default avatar and a “Nick name.” It's all about the conversation, and I want to know with whom I'm conversing.
For the same reason you don't follow people in other social media arenas who are only using a default avatar and a “Nick name.” It's all about the conversation, and I want to know with whom I'm conversing.