Making a Great First Impression with Clients - with Trenton Moss of Team Sterka
In this online workshop, Trenton walks us through how to create strong first impressions that establish credibility and trust from the very first interaction. See how early trust reduces friction, speeds up decision-making and makes it easier to influence and upsell.
According to research from Harvard University, if you make a negative first impression, it takes up to eight positive encounters to change that person's negative opinion of you.
Components of an Introduction
When introducing yourself, you can talk about three things:
Inputs: The things you do day in and day out.
Outputs: What you produce as a result of your work.
Outcomes: The impact your work has.
The goal is to have a mix of all three components, but you should lead with the outcome.
Best Practices for Your Introduction
Pass the Opposite Test: If anyone asked would say the opposite of what you are saying, then your statement will fail this test, and you should not include it. The goal is to come up with genuinely interesting and unique things about yourself.
Pass the So What Test: You must explain why what you are saying is a benefit to the client or why it adds value.
Focus on Who You Are Now: Instead of talking about the journey up to where you are, focus on your current value and who you are now.
Sound Confident and Enthusiastic: If you are not enthusiastic about yourself, your client probably won't be either. A "hack" for this is to use words that naturally lend themselves to enthusiasm, such as "happiest when," "passionate about," or "love it when". The speaker also advises generally trying to avoid the word "help" to prevent downplaying your involvement.
And finally… always vary the length of their introduction based on what the client does. The introduction worked on in the session is the longest possible introduction you will probably ever need to do.
