What is the first impression people have of you?
Have you read that when you meet someone face-to-face you can win or lose favor in the first 8 seconds?
When we coach business people we impress upon them that first impressions are frequently established more with nonverbal communications than verbal. Carol Kinsey Goman, a keynote speaker and author of “The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help – or Hurt – How You Lead,” offers these 7 tips to making the best first impression.
- Adjust Your Attitude: It doesn’t matter to the other person that you had a flat on the way into work or that you left home without your phone, take a moment to adjust to a positive attitude.
- Straighten Your Posture: Stand or sit tall and confident.
- Smile: And be the first smile as well as to extend a hand in greeting.
- Make Eye Contact: This part should go with the smile and handshake. Never speak to someone else while looking at the floor with your head bowed. That non-eye cue contact leads to distrust and is also demeaning.
- Raise Your Eyebrows: As if you’ve just met the person you’ve waited for all your life. Goman calls this the “eyebrow flash.”
- Shake Hands: This is a fairly universal greeting in industrialized countries. However, if you are travelling abroad, check into that culture’s greeting standards.
- Lean In: This is something men tend to do better than women. When women greet each other they often square up facing each other directly. This is a confrontational posture – like a boxer or wrestler. On the other hand, men tend to greet each other at an angle and lean in to speak to each other. Go figure that one!
Thought for today: Practice a winning first impression. Try it with a trusted partner and then work it at your next business networking event or workshop.
Need help creating the right first impression. Pick up my free guide: The Winner’s Mindset.
Have a day full of great impressions.