Eight principles of how to make a good impression on others
What are the eight principles we should stick to in order to make a positive first impression and make sure “the first minute of impression“ is used best possible.
We can persuade our potential client with our attitude and conduct to give their confidence to us and, e.g. in the case of a relationship manager, to entrust him/her with managing his/her investment funds, instead of being afraid of losing them?
1. Be punctual!
Punctuality is certainly a criterion according to which each of us is judged in the world of business.
If we come on time and on the right date, the conversation can definitely start in a positive mode. Possible delay can lead to subordinate starting position and even to us having to apologize an the beginning of our speech.
If, as an exception, there is the case that we cannot be punctual for our meeting and start the conversation in a positive way, it is better to call the potential client and suggest alternatives, e.g. postponing the meeting by 20 minutes or, simply arrange a new date.
2. Smile, you will feel relaxed. Be direct and open. Avoid unnecessary introduction.
Which first marks of attention and sympathy can we bring into the conversation before the first word is said? Our smile!
Our eyes, our lips, our look, our facial expression reveal our inner feelings. That is why our smile should express real joy from meeting a potential client. We are talking about an open, honest, and trustworthy smile, not the forced, commercial smile.
And the same time, happy smile when seeing our client brightens our look.
3. Self-confident conduct: clothes, eye contact, dynamics
“Clothes do not make the man, saddle does not make a horse,“ a proverb says.
However, what impression do we consciously or subconsciously get, if we meet someone carelessly dressed or of unkempt appearance? Do we not deduce, that this negligence pictures a certain personal or employee way of conduct? What does having a perfect looks mean? Do we always have to wear a dark suit with white shirt or dark ladies suit with a light-coloured blouse to have that?
We should adapt that to our environment: a relationship manager, who works in an elite, cultured and exacting work environment, is certainly aware of the necessity to dress with simple elegance. It is of course important to adapt your looks to your work environment and the specific situation of the meeting with the client.
We can also recommend paying special attention to hairstyle, teeth, nails, and last, but not least perfume, too. These external features are the mirror of our personality. Personal care for looks is an important stepping stone for reaching good mutual partner communication.
Eye contact:
Our look in the first seconds tells a lot. It transfers impression, which is the most tangible for our partner´s subconsciousness; by its means he/she tries to appraise or doubt us in her/his subconsciousness.
An extremely short interval of one or two looks of mutual eye contact must lead us to attention and willingness to respond positively.
Eye contact must be accompanied by openness and honesty of our smile… How can you trust someone, who never looks at you directly or cheers up up with a smile?
Dynamics:
Enthusiasm, natural dynamics, confident walk – just as our conduct – create image, which our potential client makes about us, in their subconsciousness. Confidence does not mean arrogance. Our warm conduct and attention for the person, who accepts us, reinforces spontaneous interest in our partner being favourable to us and accept us.
4. Greeting
Another critical point of the first seconds is introduction and verbal contact with simple and positive words. It is important neither to underestimate the significance of our presence, nor exagerrate with superlatives. If we are not really sure that the person is our partner, it makes sense to make sure that it is really the person we have arranged meeting with.
5. Personal introduction
The way we introduce ourself to our potential client, is, again, the expression of our self-confidence.
Like an actor entering the stage, we can also be successful, or not, depending on the choice of our first words. If our introduction ends in failure, it will be very difficult to clear away the faux pas.
If we speak in a clear and distinct voice and markedly stress our name, surname and name of the company, it is a sign of professionality for our partner. Not mumbling “something“ in a monotonous and dull voice. That gives the impression of vulnerability, which our potential client easily loses sympathy with.
6. Personal space
Each person has his/her own, personal area, which presents a certain way of environment, which presents his/her property.
When we approach our potential client to shake hands, we suddenly enter this space. This could, at that moment, mean a casual informality, or conscious or unconscious signs of aggression. And this feeling of personal threat makes us feel anxiety or fear coming from the unconsciousness.
That is why we have to approach the potential client with confident walk and give him opportunity to shake our hands first, thus show him we respect his/her personal space. We never approach too close, neither in the sense itself, nor metaphorically.
Our partner expects not only gestures, but also joy from our meeting, to which a certain reticence in respecting his “personal area“ leads.
We also have to realize our subconscious gestures, e.g. scratching our nose or chin, running hands through hair, which reveal our lack of self-confidence, or, even worse: intensify it. Which first gestures are recommended then to make the first contact successful as much as possible?
After introducing ourselves, we stand straight in front of our partner in respectful distance of one meter at least, we smile, ready to shake hands as soon as he/she gives the sign, gives the hand.
A clear control of facial expressions and body is related to that, so that we show our partner a perfect self-control in a few seconds.
We should be ready in a posture, when we can give our hand to a tight shake, without pressing too strong, as the shaking of hands should be the expression of joy for having the opportunity to greet him/her.
The same applies to symbolic gestures between greeting and introduction.
The handshake often shows personality: it should be open, direct and warm.
Many times a calm looking, smiling business partner gained interest as soon as he/she entered the office; he/she emits trust and optimism with his/her attitude and has calming impression on the partner. We accept him/her, try to help, try to conform. He/she will not find it difficult to be persuaded. Let´s try to conform too, preventively.
Business card
To hand our business card in a calm way to the potential client is connected with the following benefits:
- This way we can get a short break, where we let our partner get information.
- The information on our business card prevent misunderstanding with pronunciation of our surname. They explicitly determine the name of the company and contain the exact wording of our post. This information evoke a sense of security at the beginning of the conversation.
- Give our potential client the signal to hand us his/her business card, too. With that, we also prevent possible misunderstanding with pronunciation of the client´s surname or post.
8. Active listening
A vital key to success is listening. The ability to listen is absolutely essential for success in all human relationships.
There are only a few people, who can listen really effectively.
The ability to be a good listener during business conversations is probably the most important skill in sales. Many sellers have been brought up thinking that a good businessman must be an eloquent speaker. You may have heard people saying: “You have a big mouth, you should take up business!“ That is, however, a misconception. In psychological tests, about 75 % of all top sellers come out as introverted. They are calm, laid-back and focused on others. They are interested in thoughts and feelings of partners or clients, and happy to be allowed to sit and listen. In sales situations, they much rather listen than talk.
Bad sellers are characterstic of their wordiness, whereas with top sellers, listening prevails. Unfortunately, only a few sellers really listen. They might think they do, but in fact they only think of what they are supposed to say.
Listening is often called “white magic“, because it has almost magic influence on personal relationships. It allows for people to relax and open up. If a seller is an excellent listener, customers feel more comfortable, safer in his/her presence, and buy more willingly and more often.
It is necessary to realize, that listening builds trust. For a person, there is no faster way how to gain trust from another person than listening what the other says.
Punctuality is certainly a criterion according to which each of us is judged in the world of business.
If we come on time and on the right date, the conversation can definitely start in a positive mode. Possible delay can lead to subordinate starting position and even to us having to apologize an the beginning of our speech.
If, as an exception, there is the case that we cannot be punctual for our meeting and start the conversation in a positive way, it is better to call the potential client and suggest alternatives, e.g. postponing the meeting by 20 minutes or, simply arrange a new date.
Which first marks of attention and sympathy can we bring into the conversation before the first word is said? Our smile!
Our eyes, our lips, our look, our facial expression reveal our inner feelings. That is why our smile should express real joy from meeting a potential client. We are talking about an open, honest, and trustworthy smile, not the forced, commercial smile.
And the same time, happy smile when seeing our client brightens our look.
“Clothes do not make the man, saddle does not make a horse,“ a proverb says.
However, what impression do we consciously or subconsciously get, if we meet someone carelessly dressed or of unkempt appearance? Do we not deduce, that this negligence pictures a certain personal or employee way of conduct? What does having a perfect looks mean? Do we always have to wear a dark suit with white shirt or dark ladies suit with a light-coloured blouse to have that?
We should adapt that to our environment: a relationship manager, who works in an elite, cultured and exacting work environment, is certainly aware of the necessity to dress with simple elegance. It is of course important to adapt your looks to your work environment and the specific situation of the meeting with the client.
We can also recommend paying special attention to hairstyle, teeth, nails, and last, but not least perfume, too. These external features are the mirror of our personality. Personal care for looks is an important stepping stone for reaching good mutual partner communication.
Eye contact:
Our look in the first seconds tells a lot. It transfers impression, which is the most tangible for our partner´s subconsciousness; by its means he/she tries to appraise or doubt us in her/his subconsciousness.
An extremely short interval of one or two looks of mutual eye contact must lead us to attention and willingness to respond positively.
Eye contact must be accompanied by openness and honesty of our smile… How can you trust someone, who never looks at you directly or cheers up up with a smile?
Dynamics:
Enthusiasm, natural dynamics, confident walk – just as our conduct – create image, which our potential client makes about us, in their subconsciousness. Confidence does not mean arrogance. Our warm conduct and attention for the person, who accepts us, reinforces spontaneous interest in our partner being favorable to us and accept us.
Another critical point of the first seconds is introduction and verbal contact with simple and positive words. It is important neither to underestimate the significance of our presence, nor exagerrate with superlatives. If we are not really sure that the person is our partner, it makes sense to make sure that it is really the person we have arranged meeting with.
The way we introduce ourself to our potential client, is, again, the expression of our self-confidence.
Like an actor entering the stage, we can also be successful, or not, depending on the choice of our first words. If our introduction ends in failure, it will be very difficult to clear away the faux pas.
If we speak in a clear and distinct voice and markedly stress our name, surname and name of the company, it is a sign of professionality for our partner. Not mumbling “something“ in a monotonous and dull voice. That gives the impression of vulnerability, which our potential client easily loses sympathy with.
Each person has his/her own, personal area, which presents a certain way of environment, which presents his/her property.
When we approach our potential client to shake hands, we suddenly enter this space. This could, at that moment, mean a casual informality, or conscious or unconscious signs of aggression. And this feeling of personal threat makes us feel anxiety or fear coming from the unconsciousness.
That is why we have to approach the potential client with confident walk and give him opportunity to shake our hands first, thus show him we respect his/her personal space. We never approach too close, neither in the sense itself, nor metaphorically.
Our partner expects not only gestures, but also joy from our meeting, to which a certain reticence in respecting his “personal area“ leads .
We also have to realize our subconscious gestures, e.g. scratching our nose or chin, running hands through hair, which reveal our lack of self-confidence, or, even worse: intensify it. Which first gestures are recommended then to make the first contact succesful as much as possible?
After introducing ourselves, we stand straight in front of our partner in respectful distance of one meter at least, we smile, ready to shake hands as soon as he/she gives the sign, gives the hand.
A clear control of facial expressions and body is related to that, so that we show our partner a perfect self-control in a few seconds.
We should be ready in a posture, when we can give our hand to a tight shake, without pressing too strong, as the shaking of hands should be the expression of joy for having the opportunity to greet him/her. The same applies to symbolic gestures between greeting and introduction.
The handshake often shows personality: it should be open, direct and warm.
Many times a calm looking, smiling business partner gained interest as soon as he/she entered the office; he/she emits trust and optimism with his/her attitude and has calming impression on the partner. We accept him/her, try to help, try to conform. He/she will not find it difficult to be persuaded. Let’s try to conform too, preventively.
To hand our business card in a calm way to the potential client is connected with the following benefits:
- This way we can get a short break, where we let our partner get information.
- The information on our business card prevent misunderstanding with pronunciation of our surname. They explicitly determine the name of the company and contain the exact wording of our post. This information evoke a sense of security at the beginning of the conversation.
- Give our potential client the signal to hand us his/her business card, too. With that, we also prevent possible misunderstanding with pronunciation of the client’s surname or post.
A vital key to success is listening. The ability to listen is absolutely essential for success in all human relationships.
There are only a few people, who can listen really effectively.
The ability to be a good listener during business conversations is probably the most important skill in sales. Many sellers have been brought up thinking that a good businessman must be an eloquent speaker. You may have heard people saying: “You have a big mouth, you should take up business!“ That is, however, a misconception. In psychological tests, about 75 % of all top sellers come out as introverted. They are calm, laid-back and focused on others. They are interested in thoughts and feelings of partners or clients, and happy to be allowed to sit and listen. In sales situations, they much rather listen than talk.
Bad sellers are characteristic of their wordiness, whereas with top sellers, listening prevails. Unfortunately, only a few sellers really listen. They might think they do, but in fact they only think of what they are supposed to say.
Listening is often called “white magic“, because it has almost magic influence on personal relationships. It allows for people to relax and open up. If a seller is an excellent listener, customers feel more comfortable, safer in his/her presence, and buy more willingly and more often.
It is necessary to realize, that listening builds trust. For a person, there is no faster way how to gain trust from another person than listening what the other says.