My guest blogger today is digital marketing executive Jeff Zelaya. This post first appeared on his blog, http://jeffzelaya.com
By Jeff Zelaya
According to studies first impressions are formed within 7 to 17 seconds of meeting someone.
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ou will never get a second chance at a first impression and once you make an impression on somebody it is a very difficult thing to change it. Don’t leave a first impression to chance instead check out these three ways that you can leave a memorable first impression…in a good way of course.
1. Have an Elevator Pitch
If you’re like most business people and community leaders, you often devote long hours to prepare for important speeches and presentations. In contrast, we often don’t put that same energy and attention into the “speech” we deliver most often– our self-introduction or better know as the Elevator Pitch.
To capture the right attention and provoke interest in you, remember that no one (except mom) really cares about you as a person. People that you meet at a networking event mostly have the “What’s in it for me” or the WIIFM mentality. So be sure to appeal to this mentality. Ask questions get to know about the person first and then flip it on them.
Think first about what problems your expertise could specifically solve for the person you’re meeting, or how you might make that individual or company’s life more profitable, secure, fun, less stressful, or otherwise better in specific ways. Appeal to the person’s interest as best as you can. The more specific you are to them the better the results you will have.
Protip #1: Make the Elevator Pitch as interesting and as succinct as possible. People have short attentions spans and a “short to the point” elevator pitch is far more memorable. You can also make your elevator pitch more interesting by instead of saying:“I’m Jeff Zelaya and I’m an SEO Consultant and help businesses optimize their websites so that they can get more traffic and conversions,” Say: “I’m Jeff Zelaya and I help businesses get more customers from Google.”
The second version of the elevator pitch will usually intrigue the person that you are talking enough that they typically ask the follow up question : “How do you do that?” This is an invitation for you to be able to continue with your elevator pitch and provide more specific details on how you may be able to help them.
Protip #2: If you’re having trouble crafting your Elevator Pitch you might want to check out
this neat little app: WowPitch. The app helps you create a powerful 30-second elevator pitch as is available for the iPhone and iPad. The app actually walks you through the entire process of how to create an elevator pitch down to the selection of the actual words. Click here to learn more about the WowPitch App.
2. Dress The Part
You can tell a lot about a person based on what they wear. First impressions are very visual so be ready with your look. According to Business Insider first impressions are formed within 7 to 17 seconds of meeting someone; 55% of a person’s opinion is determined by physical appearance.
If you are a physician and you show up to a networker in shorts and flip flops you will have a hard time getting people to believe that you are an actual MD. Dress according to the event setting and also based on your career. Being in professional attire will only go to help you make a
favorable impression.
Dressing the part is not only about the clothes that you choose but also on your grooming. Clip your
fingernails, shave, take a shower…etc. Looking like you just rolled out of bed will leave people with a bad impression no matter what. Take the time to dress and groom yourself well before a networking event and you’ll be transformed into the person that everyone wants to talk to and get to know.
Protip: If you want to learn more about dressing for success, check out these two links.
The Importance of Dressing for Success
Dress to Network — Every Encounter Counts
3. Follow up
When a networking event is over the networking doesn’t stop, in fact it is only the beginning of the relationship. That’s why the follow up is critical. If you don’t follow up within 24 hours chances are that you might be forgotten and a potential opportunity can be missed. This will also help you
stand out because so few people actually have perfected the follow up.
Hopefully, you have collected business cards so you can follow up with the people you met. The card should of course have the person’s contact information but also any notes that you took down on them while speaking with them. These notes should help you remember who they are and action steps of what you promised them you were going to do.
Please do not spam people that trust you with their business card unless they specifically asked to be part of your list or receive certain information that you promised. Remember that they might have only said yes to be polite so confirm with them again before doing so anyways.
Protip: Google the person that you are reaching out. Depending on the conversation I like to add people to my LinkedIn network so that I can reach out to them in the future and stay in touch with them periodically. You might want to do them same…but at least if you Google them you can do
research on the person and be familiar with who they are and what they do. This research will help you in carrying a conversation and in building a relationship and rapport with the individual.
Jeff Zelaya is a digital marketing executive who advises senior marketing executives at Fortune 1000 companies how to drive incremental revenue through unique digital marketing campaigns, tactics and strategies. Jeff is also a public speaker. Check out his blog at http://jeffzelaya.com