Have You Reviewed Your First Impression? #502

Today I am going to talk about first impressions. I have discussed them multiple times here on the blog at Marketing for Owners.

If you are going to be a marketer, or if you have a business or a large team, marketing is everything in your business, except for asking for the sale and taking the money.

What I mean by the first impression, is that when people come across you, their brain is conditioned to decide what they think of you — their gut reaction – it happens.

Now, I know a lot of people say you shouldn’t judge, but it is just in the brain. We can’t help it.

[player]

Now, when people come across you for the first time, it could be over the phone, through content you have written, social media posts, your email list, etc.

Whatever it is, people will have that first impression. Now, what I suggest is that periodically you review how people see you for the first time.

Now, you might say, “ah it’s okay”, but have you ever reviewed your first impression?

How on earth can you do that? You can’t review how other people see you, so why not ask someone to do it for you?

What you need to do is get a friend or an acquaintance who is not overly involved with you to look at your first impression and give you some honest feedback.

You want to show them what people see and ask them very pointed questions about what people see and what they might think.

For example — the way you answer the phone. What type of impression is that leaving? Have that person phone you up and you answer it as you normally would and then ask them pointed questions about your responses, etc.

Show them a couple of your emails or letters that you have sent out recently and ask them what they think — would you read this, would you answer this, is this relevant?

What about the outside of your building? Does it need to be updated? Is it clean and refreshing or does it look old and outdated?

You might think that you do not have the money to update the front of your store, but honestly — you need to be investing a bit here and there to update your business.

You need to stay up with time friends.

What about your employee uniforms? Are they ratty and faded? It may be time to spend the extra money to get your employees looking fresh again. They are the forefront of your business.

Think about this because these are the things that your customers do think about when they see your business for the first time.

Tuesday Toolbox Tip

Today is a toolbox tip day and today I want to talk to you about Skype. Now I love Skype and use it all the time. It is free to use. In my experience, Skype is fantastic. All my interviews and business calls are done through Skype. I use it to speak to clients who sign up for my free time which you can sign up for here: Marketingforowners.com/freetime. Click here to instantly download our FREE Book “The 71 Ultimate Marketing Tools”

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for our next expert interview series. I am super excited about this one.