Make a Superb First Impression

It is extremely important that people have a good first impression of you. Either you make a good impression or you will suffer for it! It is going to affect how your contact views you for the rest of that conversation. It can affect how fast a friendship starts, or how fast business relationships get going. You have got to make a good first impression!

What is a "first impression"? Simply it is the first thoughts a person has toward you after seeing you or listening to what you have to say. These are made during the first five seconds and then the first few minutes of a conversation. It has been said that a speaker has 5 minutes to convince the audience that he/she has something good to say. How you act, dress, and talk are all going to affect "the first impression". A customer's first impression of a salesmen will have an impact on whether the customer buys. The first impression a manager has of you will affect whether you are hired. How you act in the first moments of meeting your new neighbor will sharply affect his/her view of you. Yes, you need to make a good first impression! It can stop a sale, or it can help you make an instant friend!

How do you make a good impression? Here is one way which is guaranteed to work. Do this and people will have excellent first thoughts about you! This is the key:

When you meet someone (friend or new contact), greet them on the phone, or pass them on the street, act ENTHUSED to meet them!
Give them a "winning" smile.
Cheerfully greet them with "hello (name)". Let your voice show that you are glad to see them!
Act like you are greeting a best friend who has been gone for awhile.
If you walk into a group, greet or acknowledge every person. Look them in the eye. Either verbally greet them or at least make eye contact and acknowledge every single person.
Greet your friends, contacts, and family the same way.
When someone calls, say a professional "hello". When you find out who is calling, act glad to hear their voice.

What if you DO NOT feel like it? Who cares! ACT enthusiastic to meet them and you will BE enthusiastic to meet them. They will feel important and will be glad to see YOU. You will make an excellent first impression. This technique alone will work wonders for you! You will stand out from the crowd. Customers will want to come back. When a customer sees that you are glad to have them buy from you, they will want to come back and buy MORE from YOU.

You have probably realized that puppies make friends very easily. When they greet a person they smile, wag their tail and are absolutely happy to see you. They want to be your friend. The result is that you in turn want to pet the puppy, and be the puppies friend. This same principal works with you social contacts. Be glad to see them and they will usually be glad to see you. You will make a good impression and they will like you. This is just one technique for making a good first impression. Apply it and it will work!

Short note about the author

© 2001, Arlen Busenitz. Arlen is a free lance writer specializing in people skills and personal improvement. Free articles and the "Secret to Making People Like You" can be found here: http://www.Magic-People-Skills.com.

ballard, 01/24/2008

+ 1

Basically correct and useful.

If you're interested in them genuinely, others will want to help you out... because you'll get the person out of automatic pilot. Take consistent action, KEEP COMMITMENTS and give value first will keep the tempo.

All the tid-bits from "how to win friends and influence people."

- Avoiding talking about oneself (we're not that interesting except to us.)
- Listening actually
- Putting away the person pronouns.
- Smile
- Voice
- Posture
- Being relaxed
- Grooming
- Firm handshake
- Always keep growing and improving.

Do whatever it takes to make the other person feel comfortable, appreciated, welcomed, etc.

A measure of grace, patience as well... no sense fussing. If they've treated you poorly, they'll feel guilty and come around when they're ready, no sense keeping score on a clipboard.

Flattery is cheap, so are glib smiles, reassurances and empty promises work in the short-term. Find genuine interest at a moderate level seems more real to me. Hard-core business is about building relationships with reliable, trustworthy, useful people because it's a small world. That guy working for you might be your boss someday, or vice-versa, somewhere else.

Do be the one to raise obvious concerns first, don't "sell" the customer a dream without knowing specifics. Jeffrey Gitomer gets it completely. People want to buy from me because I am first concerned about them above me in whatever it is they really need, and my company and profit-margin last. It sounds disloyal, but it is true loyalty to the spirit of business. Even as a kid, my sales numbers were always #1. Tell them you dont have the product they need, but where to get it. It's all about being maximally helpful to others and completely honest = massive rapport that is unassailable.

Whoops, hope no thunder stolen. I tend to rant and rave. It's so much easier to be real, in my (small, unclever) book. Naive warmth is so pure and simple, and much less work, though it seems like weakness, it is not. Respectable and laudable article idea. Thanks for inspiring the words previously, it's all your fault. ;O)

Tip: NVB leakage can be spotted a mile away. Real smiles have crow's feet creases, forced smiles do not always.

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