The importance of first impressions
The importance of first impressions
http://www.inman.com/next/5-key-elements-of-a-brilliant-first-impression/
The author here does a great job of making the case for 5 small steps that can play a big part in making a first impression. While this is from Inman and more/less geared toward Realtors, the premise holds true in pretty much any of our relationships. I'd add a few things:
1) Be on time. I hate it when don't really like it when folks are late for an appointment with me- just don't like it. I could probably work on my tolerance in that arena a bit- but I reconcile things by throwing in the one thing I'm probably even less fond of- my being late for an appointment with someone.
2) Be genuine. Simply put, folks can see right through fake. I recall a wise man once said you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time- I just presume the folks I'm dealing with are the un-foolable kind. And anyone whose seen a video or two that I've made can tell that what one sees is what one gets- always the best policy, in my humble yet accurate opinion.
3) Be confident. If you don't believe in yourself, do you really expect others to believe in you? Of course not. And if you're thinking of faking it, see #2.
4) Be memorable. Realtors help folks buy homes...or list/sell their homes. Some of them even venture off into Property Management-land and handle rental properties. From the world of baseball comes the sage advice to "hit 'em where they ain't". That advice is to have one's batted ball miss the opposing outfielders, but the premise holds true in Real Estate-land as well- where a good course of action is to find something that sets you apart from your competition.
I'm thinking of orange cars. I give a good buddy of mine who for some unknown reason cheers for the Tennessee Volunteers a ton of grief for- for their losing to my Alabama Crimson Tide for the 8th year in a row now, of course, but also for Tennessee's team colors being a hideous Punkin' Orange color. I've always told my buddy that if it was a decent color, we'd see a lot of Punkin' Orange cars on the road. We don't, of course- but pulling up in a Punkin' Orange car is a great example of something that'd be memorable.
5) Be positive. Nobody likes an Eeyore. With all due respect to Winnie the Pooh's buddy, he's not what one would call the encouraging or uplifting type. He is a good case study, though- for he shows that while one can be memorable enough to satisfy #4 above, being memorable can also be a bad thing.
As many have said, it holds true that there's only one shot to make a first impression- and if you blow it, you might very well never recover from it.
The importance of first impressions
Comments (4)Subscribe to CommentsComment