Making a great first Impression

Making a good first impression is at the heart of leadership and job skill musts. Whether you are applying for a job or managing a assignment it is a strategy tool that ranks among the most important. You want to get off to a perfect start. One article suggests that within 3 seconds someone appraises you by your appearance, your body language, you mannerisms, and the way you present yourself. We make impressions by our actions, what we say and by what others say about us. To make a excellent impression you must know what was said about you or how you are perceived. If it is positive you come with a good track record. If it was not you have a ability to change that impression. How you present yourself IS the impression. That first impression must be solid enough to show confidence to establish trust. However over-confidence can destroy trust. It is a fine line. Polite, attentive, on-time, positive, appropriateness and sincerity go a long ways. Fortunately you do not have to sign up for a seminar or class, but simply google making a nice impression to find numerous sites with free and beneficial information. The difficulty lies in finding out what others have said about you and what information they already know. That means researching. So that takes care of the first impression. The key is keeping a good impression. Once that you have landed that deal or sold that house or secured that client your impression skills are not locked in. You must expand that impression that they made the right choice and that you truly value them. You do that in your text with a letter or note or a phone call. You do it in your behavior with making face to face timely visits when possible. And you are sure to spend a few bucks to maintain that impression. It might be with food or gifts, and not just holiday anticipated gifts. When you first land the sale follow up with something. My neighbor is a real estate agent and used to send a restaurant gift card to her clients after the closing. He now walks into the closing with an impressive and The Thank Full Gift Basket from Baskets by Rita. He already knows the client, so whether it's a beer tub, wine gift basket, gourmet gift basket he pays the money for it to be a wow factor and make the significant impression as he walks through the door. He said the day he came into the room with a baby gift basket for the couple about to become parents they were so excited. Lasting impressions have rewards and he says that the wow factor and the oohs and aahhhs he gets from them carry through. As they thank him as they are leaving, he mentions he would appreciate any referrals they would send his way. When they refer, he has another gift basket sent to their house. He claims this impression has definitely increased his client list. So good impressions are important.