People either make a positive, negative or neutral impression when they meet people for the first time. And this impression happens during the first few seconds of meeting anybody, often before anything has been said. What impression do you create with people you meet? Making a good first impression is crucial in our business and you only ever get one chance at it.
A negative impression leaves you with an uphill battle to connect afterwards. It is less of a battle after a neutral impression but an easier journey after a positive impression. Making a good first impression is incredibly important, because you only get the one shot at it.
Still it isn’t the end of the world because people’s view of you can be altered with time.
You are also judging them at the same time as they judge you and you can change your view as you get to know them better.
It is therefore critical to make a good first impression as you only meet people for the first time – ONCE. A good first impression is a giant step towards enrolling people. A bad first impression usually leads to an uphill battle from then on. You should also know people can generally sense when anybody is inauthentic.
There is plenty you can do before meeting people. We have covered some of these things in other sections. You can adjust your normal modus operandi when meeting people. To do this you need to take feedback from people who can help until you recognise an improvement and you feel more comfortable with the process.
The following list contains lots of areas for improvement. Some may be you and some not. You often may not know if they are related to you. Getting feedback from others will help. Others may crop up after you have mastered those you know of. It is an ongoing process of development.
Things to consider which may increase your chances of a positive first impression:
- Clear purpose
- Create a connection that leads to another meeting
- What you wear
- Does your dress style affect the impression you give?
- Use their name
- Give your name and make a point of using their name
- Body language
- What does it say about you?
- Is there anything you need to be aware of?
- Are you smiling?
- Be aware of yourself
- Are you in touch with yourself when meeting people?
- Your mood get conscious
- You can choose the mood you want to present
- Shake hands
- Touch is important. Respect the rare person who is obviously uncomfortable with this.
- Eye contact
- Very important but avoid fixed staring. Make sure it is relaxed.
- Practice
- Anything can be improved with time, feedback and reflection. You must practice.
- One Liner
- Keep testing the response you get to your one liner
- Have more than one
- Get feedback
- It is simple. No feedback, rarely improvement. Learn to take in feedback.
- Compliment
- Compliments are good but do not over do it
- Show Interest
- Always show interest in people even if you are not
- Let them feel they have your attention
- Make a graceful exit
- Learn to timely disengage
- Thank Them
- Thank them for their time
- Don’t Interrupt
- Let them talk
- If you must go, do it nicely with a smile
- Prepare openers
- Anything can happen when meeting people. Be prepared with interesting topics
- Humour
- Humour is an excellent way to establish a connection
- Some humour is inappropriate. Be careful.
Leaving people with a good impression is important for your business. All your meetings should always be fun. If they aren’t then do something about it. If they are not then you are probably trying too hard to get the outcome you want and this leads to disappointment. Meeting people can be stressful for many of us, however, you have no reason to not enjoy yourself, if your objective stays as creating a connection.
If you are not achieving the outcomes you want, then you have to examine what you are doing. Remember your ultimate goal is to average one person a month, who will eventually become an UnFranchise Business Owner. Anybody who puts in the time will eventually get the results they want as long as they learn, practice and put the time in.
Even if you have problems creating a positive first impression, you can always work on it and learn to adapt until it gets better.
