30 seconds to form a first impression Personal engagement with a prospect, or anyone for that matter, is significantly influenced by the first few seconds on contact. Whether the initial contact is by way of face to face networking or a cold call – ‘It takes 30 seconds to form a first impression. Others believe […]

30 seconds to form a first impression Personal engagement with a prospect, or anyone for that matter, is significantly influenced by the first few seconds on contact. Whether the initial contact is by way of face to face networking or a cold call – ‘It takes 30 seconds to form a first impression. Others believe it takes 2-3 seconds. There was even a study done by Princeton psychologists that found it takes only a tenth of a second to form an impression of somebody.’ Research generating these findings have been replicated a number of times. Research suggests that for the telephone 7 seconds appears to be the magic period.For me, this begs two important questions: Do initial impressions change, and if so what does it take to cause change? What is it that influences the rapid judgement that we humans seek to make? The simple answer to the first question…