Two Instant Marketing & Sales Multipliers

George goes for an interview, Mike the interviewer does what many many studies of interviewers has shown to happen (and I’ve done myself), he makes his decision within a minute of George starting to talk.

In the US a researcher stands in the street and spins a wheel that stops with an arrow point to the number 800. Then asks a person to tell them how many words they think were in the Gettysburg speech – the average answer given is 800. Same researcher, same wheel this time stops at 275, same question – this time the average answer given is…. 275.

A vet examines a cat for an owner. It’s in for jabs. Whilst doing this he notices a slight imbalance in the way the cat is holding itself – the cat gets a scan and a medium tumour is identified and removed from between the ear and brain. The cat had weeks if not days to live.

A researcher looked into the ability of a vet to identify this particular tumour – and after speaking to over 100 vets found that it was in fact a very difficult diagnosis to make and furthermore less than 5% thought themselves capable of having identified the problem with the known information.

The owner was asked what she thought of the vet’s expertise. On a simple scale she marked him as average. He’d just found one of the most difficult to diagnose problems saving the cats life and he was marked as average.

In studies, of vet’s expertise it’s been found that white vets in white coats score higher than vets in ordinary clothes. Whilst vets in ‘surgery’ clothing score even higher. Add a stethoscope and… you have an someone who scores an expert!

What’s in common here? It’s a frighteningly simple principle: People become anchored to initial perceptions and information. Those numbers on the wheel had no relation to the question, Mike got stuck on the first impression and words of George.

People don’t just form a first impression; they stick with it. What’s even truer is for reasons of time – people make instant judgements and base all later decisions on them. First impressions are more critical than ever in our time rushed business lives

Your success is tied to that snap judgement that will create the impression you get stuck with and that will affect the decisions made about your product / service and YOU.

What first impression do you make? What do you wear to sales appointments? What’s the first thing you say? The first way you position your product / service?

Identify and polish your first impressions, then… make sure your last impression lasts. First and last impressions are what count – use these two to multiply your results. Now where are my surgeon clothes for my next mentoring appointment?