People and Business: How to impress

IF YOU produce a dog-eared business card, the person receiving it will assume you are "untrustworthy" and probably "a salesman".

And if you've forgotten to bring a business card altogether, you will immediately be branded "unprofessional".

In contrast if you whisked a crisp card from a "solid silver card case", you will be accepted as "style conscious, professional and ambitious".

These findings come from a survey of 100 lawyers, bankers and directors carried out by a firm which is about to launch a luxury business card case "made from hallmarked sterling silver, hand enamelled and set with a 0.45 carat ruby".

Yours at pounds 395 a snip. The woman behind the Giavarra card case, Emmanuella Giavarra, is an international copyright lawyer. Her reason for launching the case is simple. "My husband gave me a card case and it was - uh - not good enough."