First Impressions Are The Last Thing A Company Wants To Forget

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 at making a first impression, or is that just popular business lore?

In some ways, it is 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 reading 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 are 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 …"?

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.

Then, both groups 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 positive words they had just memorized came to mind and vice versa.

There are implications in this that can be serious for a business. On the one hand, taking steps to shape and protect customers, vendors, stockholders and the public’s perceptions can be positive and beneficial as a company like Nordstrom’s knows so well. Even those who have never shopped at a Nordstrom’s store have a positive impression of the company. The story is quite different for a Firestone.

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

1. Be painfully clear about how you want your company to be perceived. What impression do you want to make? A good example is United Parcel Service. No matter how bad the weather, UPS trucks are clean and the drivers are always neatly uniformed. UPS knows 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.



2. 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 is 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?



3. Be clear in your understanding of what the customer is thinking. Although it’s not easy, it’s necessary. An insider’s perspective is out of the question when it comes to impressions. For example, what’s the message of the company logo? It might be worthwhile holding a focus group and asking customers what they think when they see it. Many banks still picture themselves in terms of "strong, solid buildings." Is this the impression a bank wants to make today? Also, ask them what they think about when they think of your company or product.



4. Capitalize on every uniqueness. How does your company, service, or product differ from the competition? 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 drycleaner with 40 stores emphasizes what the company calls "Ready-Today" service instead of the common "Same-Day" day service. By making a somewhat common service distinctive, it has made a difference. These become impressions that influence how customers "see" a company.

Acting as if impressions are unimportant is never an answer. The demise of Montgomery Wards is a good example of what happens to a company that made no impression on the customer. Wards failed to give customers a reason to go to their stores. As a result, customers no longer thought of most Wards’ stores as buying destinations. On the other hand, Kohl’s stores have found a niche in the highly competitive department store market by combining name brand merchandise with discounted pricing, and they have attracted consumers using this merchandising strategy. They crafted the right impression.

There are other impressions, too. Firestone’s failure to respond quickly to the recent tire crisis created the impression that the company didn’t care or was stonewalling the issue. Even when the company came forward with its commitment to make good on every tire, the initial impression may have caused the public to doubt the company’s sincerity - and, more importantly, to question the quality of the company’s other products.

Perhaps Amazon.com is enjoying the biggest payoff for making the right impression on customers. Although the value of its stock has suffered during the demise of the dot-coms, the company’s reputation remains undiminished. It stands out in the dot-com pack as a result of the quality of its customer service and relentless public relations efforts.

But there are other companies, too, that understand the value of making the right impression. W.B. Mason, a large office supply dealer in the Northeast, continually strives to make an impression that places it ahead of the competition. Their deliveries, for example, are so fast they seem to be in real time. Place an order and it’s at your office in a few hours. That speed sends a powerful, indelible message: this company has its act together. No sales literature is needed because the impression tells it all.

The right first impressions are the last thing a company wants to forget.