First Impressions Are The Last Thing A Company Wants To Forget

It’s all about first impressions making them and responding to them. In crucial situations, everyone’s antenna is up, supersensitive to even the most inconsequential signal. The first meeting is always pivotal, and we seem convinced that almost everything rides on making a correct first impression: 'How did we do?' 'Did we put our best foot forward?' 'How can we be more impressive?'

Why all the concern with first impressions? Why do we believe that the first contact makes a difference? Is it true that no one gets a second chance to make a first impression, or is that just popular business lore?

In some ways, it’s difficult to understand why we place so much importance on first impressions. It isn’t only making them that gets our attention, of course. It’s perceiving them as well. Armed with extremely limited information, we often come to conclusions that are instantly indelible. If we know such conclusions may be questionable, why do we persist in making snap judgments that are virtually impossible to change?

The answer is simple: First impressions work. They reduce anxiety and allow us to move through the day with less stress. Walk into an auto dealership to look at a car, and you’re immediately turned off by a pushy salesperson. How often do we hear someone say, 'From the very moment I met her, I knew', or 'They didn’t have us fooled for a minute. As soon as they opened their mouths, we could tell.'

Basing judgments on limited knowledge may seem difficult to defend. Yet studies support the extensive influence of first impressions. Consider the following research project, conducted by Jennifer Humble and Dr. Barbara Bremer. The objective was to evaluate the extent to which dress and physical appearance affect the quality of social interactions.

Using a retail store setting, the researchers discovered that the sociability of the clerks was significantly higher when they interacted with a well-dressed actor than with a poorly dressed one. Other studies suggest that facial expression, gestures, glasses, personal coloring, garment style, and makeup can play a key role in impression formation. Humble and Bremer concluded, 'Individuals tend to make intrinsic judgments about a person based on external cues.'

What’s true about first impressions of individuals may be equally significant for companies. Businesses choose street and building addresses that send 'the right message' they’re believed to make the right impression.

Even though we acknowledge the role a first impression can play in making a sale, signing on a new client, or walking away with an order, we often come up blank when it comes to other issues. A few questions may make the point:

• Why are we satisfied to offer a one- or two-color brochure when we know full-color attracts far more attention?
• Why do we use 'Dear Valued Customer' on letters, despite that fact that a personalized letter is more effective?
• Why do we persist in using cold-calling, even though we’re personally turned off when we receive such calls ourselves?
• What’s the impact of a logo designed by an amateur or one that’s 30 years old?
• What’s the subtle effect of using a heavier paper stock for letterhead, versus a thin but far less expensive paper?
• What impression do customers have when a company responds to requests weeks or days later instead of immediately?
• What’s the impact of a projected presentation typed with black letters on a white background versus one that’s professionally designed in a graphics computer program?
• How does image advertising influence the perception of customers and prospects?
• What’s the effect of a newsletter that looks like an ad and contains self-serving material?
• How effective is a Web site in attracting customers when every page is company-focused versus one that provides visitors with helpful information?
• How do we feel about a fast-food restaurant when we’re forced to wait in a long line? How about the supermarket that opens checkouts according to the flow of customers?
• What impression does a company make when it delivers orders more quickly than promised?

Clearly, business is about impressions. The psychological literature is filled with examples of studies verifying that misjudgments result from incomplete or misleading information. In one such study, for example, a group was asked to memorize a list of words that included terms of praise, while another group was asked to memorize a list that included scornful terms. Both groups then undertook an ostensibly different task in which they read an ambiguous news story about a young man. When questioned, the first group was much more positive about the young man than were those in the second group, presumably because the type of words each group had just memorized came to mind.

This study has serious implications for a business. Taking steps to shape and protect the perceptions of customers, vendors, stockholders, and the public can be extremely beneficial.

Here are some ideas that may help to make a difference in the way a company actively fosters appropriate, positive impressions:

• Be clear about how you want your company to be perceived. What impression do you want to make? Look at the United Parcel Service. The trucks are always clean, no matter how bad the weather, and the drivers are always neatly uniformed, no matter how hard they’ve been working. UPS knows that the way it looks on the street and at the door influences how customers rate its service. But it all starts with a precise description of how you want your company or product to be perceived.

• Take every positive and negative message seriously. What do customers like, and what do you dislike? If there are disconnects between what you say and how you perform, someone’s getting a confused message and that means the wrong impression. Negative messages should never be ignored, even though they may be way off base. What’s behind the misconception? How did it happen? And what can be done to change it?

• Find out what the customer is thinking. Although this isn’t easy, it’s a necessity. An insider’s perspective is out of the question when it comes to impressions. What’s the message of the company logo? It might be worthwhile to hold a focus group and ask customers what they think when they see it. What about their impressions of your product or of the company itself? Many banks still picture themselves in terms of strong, solid buildings. Is this the impression a bank wants to make today?

• Capitalize on uniqueness. How does your company, service, or product differ from the competition’s? What are you doing that they aren’t? These don’t need to be major differences to make a difference in the mind of the customer. A dry-cleaner with 40 stores emphasizes what the company calls 'ready-today' service instead of the usual 'same-day' service. Just by giving a common service a distinctive name the company stands out.

Acting as if impressions are unimportant is never an answer. The right first impressions are the last thing a company wants to forget.