If you are a small business owner, then you need to manage the art of the first impression. If you don’t, you could miss out on major opportunities to boost your brand in a variety of ways. First impressions are more than just moments, they can affect your company in your sales, marketing, hiring, and other endeavors. Here are five reasons why first impressions are the most important:

 

First Impressions Last

The reason why first impressions are so important is that they last well beyond that moment. This is thanks to something called the  primacy effect, which means that when someone experiences something before other things in a sequence, they remember that first thing more.
If you don’t leverage first impressions correctly, your customers might get the wrong idea in their head. If they have a negative interaction with you or another person in your company, that might be the only memory that actually stays with them long term.

Start With Positive Momentum

Momentum is a powerful force. From technology, to transportation, to human psychology, when you get momentum it is harder to stop you. If you build positive momentum with customer relationships and make excellent impressions right of the bat, it can build into something really special.
Remembering the power of the primacy effect from earlier, if a customer has a negative experience at some point during their journey with your company they will be more likely to forgive you. It is a lot harder to reverse positive momentum when it’s been building for years or months.

You Might Only Have One Shot Before Competitors Swoop In

Long gone are the days where companies had the luxury of taking their time to win customers over. Today, technology and digital communication have sped things up in every corner of the world. Consumers are online with their phones almost all day consuming information and sales messages from your competitors.
If you want to avoid losing business to competitors, you need to arrive in front of your customers first. This includes social media, emails, phone calls, and first impressions when dealing with salespeople. If you don’t get the sale, your opponents might swoop in days later to close the deal.