Studies have shown that 55% of a first impression is based on what the other person hears.

Debalina Roy

Debalina Roy

Head - Talent Management & Strategic Talent Acquisition in Corporate HR of Arohan Financial Services Limited (A leading NBFC MFI)

Published Jun 3, 2022

In the business world, a good first impression is crucial. First impressions are very powerful. First impressions directly impact our ability to get hired for a job, impress the leaders at our organization, move up, and even connect with potential clients or investors.

How Many Seconds to a First Impression?

A series of experiments by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov reveal that all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face, and that longer exposures don’t significantly alter those impressions.

Experts say:

• 55 percent of first impressions are made by what we see (visual).
• 38 percent is the way we hear your first words (vocal).
• 7 percent are the actual words you say (verbal).

How to make a great First Impression at work ?

Visual (55%)- Smart Appearances & Well Groomed Looks, Smiles, Neat Dressing sense, Fashion quotient, Eye contacts, Gestures, Postures, Facial Expressions, overall Hygiene - Cleanliness, Etiquettes, Demeanor (exuding confidence & comfort), Energy & Enthusiasm etc. is visible in a person & that forms the 55% of the First Impression.

SLU - Smile - Charm - Enthusiasm.

Vocal (38%) - The way we say it (inflection in our voice). The Pitch, volume, Tone, Speed, Pause, emphasis. Roughly it impacts 38% of the First Impression. Be aware of the way you speak.

Verbal (7%) - The actual words that we say. our Vocabulary, Grammar etc. It has only 7% impact.

Some Tips :

• Pre-impressions are theNEW first impressions : Now a days we search Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram before meeting someone new. ALMOST ALWAYS! This forms a pre impression even before meeting that person face to face. Therefore, now a days it's important to have an impressive social media profile.
• The Confirmation Bias: People see what they expect to see, and often ignore information that opposes those expectations.

For example, if your LinkedIn photo looks confident and warm, and your professional experiences listed are succinct and without typos, someone will probably expect you to be likable and competent. 

• Purple Cow — A remarkable thing that stands out among the crowd. It's our unique style or image. It Immediately captures our attention - helps create a powerful First Impression. But at the same time, we need to be careful not to sacrifice the trust necessary in our first impression with too much glitz.
• The PLU factor - Person Like Us (PLU) is a major bias we all have. We all like people who are like us.
• Boost the L - Factor - Likability Factor always tend to be high when we demonstrate genuine interest in our conversation partner. Research shows that expressing curiosity by asking thoughtful questions (without interrogating) creates connection and emotional bonding, which makes the other person like you.
• The Primacy Effect - In psychology, the primacy effect is described as a cognitive bias in which the information we get about someone early on heavily influences how we interpret information about them later. Basically, first impressions matter — a lot. 
•  It's not WHAT we say - It's HOW we say it - “The better we make the other person FEEL, the more they’ll be inclined to have a positive impression of us.” Hence, Be more interested than interesting.
• EQ Skills  — listening, curiosity, self-awareness, empathy — crucial to making great first impressions.
• Using filler words such as ‘um’ or ‘so’ or filling in gaps with ‘like’ or ‘you know’ will make you seem less knowledgeable.

First impressions are so powerful. Humans form emotional decisions. The Association for Psychological Science reports that an impression can be made in a tenth of a second - as long as it takes for someone to merely look at you. This first impression can only be changed slowly over time - and sometimes, we don’t get that extra time!