12 Guidelines for creating Good First Impressions

Within the first few seconds of any encounter you are evaluated by the prospect. Your appearance, demeanour and body language all contribute to quickly create a first impression. This judgement happens primarily on a subconscious level and once made is extremely difficult to reverse. The prospect’s subconscious is asking the question “can I trust this person”. Follow these twelve key lessons and learn to influence this judgement in a positive way helping you to make a great first impression.

1. Do your research

Do your homework, who are the key people? what are the products? who are their customers? Is there any big plans for the future. Today you can use the Internet to get lots of information about the prospect but its also always worth ringing ahead a few days in advance to gather any relevant insight.

2. Get focused

So the baby was sick and traffic is awful. Take a deep breath, leave your troubles behind and ensure that your focus is entirely set on the meeting.

3. Good time keeping

Plan for unforeseen events like traffic etc and aim to get there with time to spare. Lateness is one sure fire way of killing off any chance of a good first impression.

4. Be Confident

Expect to do business and your words, tone and body language will send out all the right signals. Successful people give off a successful image so even when you are having a bad month, approach every new business encounter in an open and confident manner.

5. Dress to Impress

This is the first visual clue that the prospect gets and making an extra effort will pay dividends. As far as the prospect is concerned If you look sharper than the competition changes are you are sharper then the competition.

6. Keep an open stance

Ensure that your stance is open particularly during introductions. Try to be aware of giving any negative or defensive subconscious gestures such as folding of arms, putting point of sale materials in front of your torso etc.

7. SMILE

The most powerful subconscious tool you have at your disposal is your smile so use it. When you smile at someone, they will smile back and start to relax in your company. Remember, smiling is infectious.

8. Always offer a firm handshake

A firm handshake helps to imply that you are a confidence and honest person. A loose weak handshake says don’t trust me, I got something to hide.

9. Keep good eye contact

Ensure that you keep eye contact when addressing someone and when they are talking to you. Good eye contact says, you can trust me, I’m interested in what you have say because its also important to me.

10. Slow down introductions

When you are introduced, slow down the process taking time to remember the names and positions of the people that are been introduced. We generally tend to rush through introductions and later find we cant remember the names and positions of the people we have just been introduced to.

11. Use first names.

Once the introductions are over, use people’s first names when addressing your audience or asking questions. This helps to quickly build trust with prospects.

12. Be an obvious listener

Good listening skills require concentration, focus and effort. When listening to the prospect, let them see that your attention is directly focused on them through use of eye contact, nodding and by avoiding mental distractions.

The ability to create a good first impression is a potent skill in any business encounter but unfortunately is often not considered important. As with any skill worth mastering, it requires planning, practice and thought and while a good first impression can help overcome later difficulties or objections, a bad first impression is virtually impossible to reverse which effectively means you lose any opportunity to do business before you even start the business meeting.

12 Guidelines for creating Good First Impressions - To learn more about this author, visit Niall Devitt's Website.

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