First Impressions: Your Express Route to Success and Sales

First Impressions: Your Express Route to Success and Sales
by: Chris Langlois

This will be a three part series on first impressions from the customers’ point of view. We will cover all aspects: product, procedural, and personal. Let’s start the fun by defining what a first impression is. A first impression is the immediate mental image someone forms after meeting another person. It is what stays in the customers’ mind creating a lasting effect, opinion, or belief about your business and the overall customer experience you provide.

We all have memorable first impressions we will never forget. For some reason we always remember a poor first impression, right? Think back to some first impressions that you’ve had recently. Were you driving past an empty lot and saw grass coming through the pavement and thought about what an eye sore it was? Have you had a terrible experience at a restaurant where your food took way to long or they brought you the wrong order? Chances are it was at a fast food chain! I read that a person is five times more likely to tell their friends and family (or the world via social media: Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor) about a bad experience as opposed to a good experience. So, what are you doing to ensure that your customers have the maximum opportunity for a positively memorable first impression?

We are going to focus on the product aspects of a first impression. A product first impression is well, your product! Most people believe your product is only the food served, the guest room booked, goods sold, etc.  But, it doesn’t begin or stop there. Your product aspects are everything tangible that involves the sale of a good, including your curb appeal, road sign, business sign, parking lot, lobby, bathrooms, hallways, signage within the building, walls, rugs, carpet, guest rooms, food served, virtually everything!

Curb Appeal

I was traveling outside of Atlanta, Georgia last week and I asked the front desk agent at the hotel where a great local place to eat was. She sent me to a “restaurant” that had terrible curb appeal. The parking blocks were broken and crooked, the paint was peeling off the outer walls, and the bushes were dead! Everything in my mind told me to keep on driving by. I thought to myself, if I to drive by, how many other people l do to? That could result in thousands to tens-of-thousands of dollars a year!

 

Sign

As my mind was battling my body, I parked my car. I looked up at the sign  and saw that it simply was a vinyl sign that said the restaurant’s name in Sharpe! Yes, black Sharpe. I couldn’t help but literally LOL (laugh out loud!) All I could think was, are you kidding me? Listen ladies and gents, signage could be one of the most important first impression that you have.

Your sign tells a story of your place of business and let’s potential customers know where and who you are. Use the KISS analogy (Keep It Simple, Stupid) but not so simply that you use a Sharpe! Invest in your business with a good sign.

Entrance and Restaurant

At this point, in a virtual hysterical laugh, I just had to see what the guts to this place looked like (mind you, in my mind I had already decided there was no way I am eating here). As I enter the restaurant, the front glass door was cracked, the décor was confusing as it looked like the 60s and 80s were back in style, and the tables were mismatched plastic lawn furniture. At that moment, my first impression was blown away, just not in a good way.

For those of you owning or running a business, the entrance should be appealing to the eye, convey a feeling of comfort, and be attractive, warm, and colorful. Word of caution: the furnishings should telegraph the demographic your business seeks out. Your grandmothers furniture, while pretty, will appeal to, well, your grandmother, and not a twenty-something or a contemporary businessperson.

Product

I was feeling courageous. I daringly walked through the restaurant to check out their product, the food. Have you ever seen the movie “Billy Madison” with Adam Sandler? Classic movie, but all I could think of was the lunch lady when he went back to school. They literally had a scary looking lady passing out food (that looked like it was sitting out for a while) on a buffet line. The first impression made me feel pretty sure that if I went up to get food a cockroach would jump out of the gravy. It is imperative that you ensure that your product is something that people will enjoy and find value in.

Bathrooms

I never got to see the bathrooms, probably for my own safety, before I left this restaurant, but I do have a few recommendations. If the patrons have been traveling for an extended period of time they will use your bathroom and, yes, your bathroom can be a factor into your bottom line. If a lady goes to the restroom she will inevitably notice the cleanliness, and if it’s not satisfactory she will not want to do business there, let alone eat there. You will lose business if your restrooms are unsatisfactory. A helpful hint: put a trash can near the door. It is a big pet peeve of mine. Like most people, I do everything in my power to not touch a bathroom door handle. I always use the tissue paper and then throw the tissue in the trashcan near the door. If you don’t have trashcan near the door guess what happens: you will end up with a pile of tissue on the ground which makes even a clean bathroom look grimy.

Conclusion

A first impression is more than the first time a guest checks into their hotel room, tastes your food, or purchases your product. It begins when they are driving down the road to your business all the way to the time they leave your parking lot. There are a lot of variables that you, as a service provider, need to accomplish to ensure your customers get a lasting positive first impression.

www.chrislanglois.com

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