Leaving a good impression on someone isn’t always easy. Here’s four quick tips for sparking a positive one in mere seconds.
Signal Genuity
Our brains have been subconsciously reading body language our entire lives, so they know how to read the real stuff from the fake. Tap into this by creating a smile that reads genuinely. When you first meet someone, take a second to scan their face. Then, slowly let your face break into a smile. The key is to wait for a second to smile (rushing a smile can seem ingenuine) and let the smile come slowly and naturally. You’ll have the other person feeling like you are genuinely happy to see them.
Make Them Feel Heard
To make someone feel like you’re genuinely interested in what they’re saying, try taking the last few words of their sentence, and pose it back to them as a question. If someone were to say to you “I’m just starting my holidays this weekend.” You’d say “You’re starting your holidays this weekend?” Prompting them to talk more about themselves. Our brains are the most engaged when we are talking about ourselves, so that’s exactly what you want the other person to be doing. This technique warrants some discretion and practice. But its one taught in many professions for negotiation strategies and, for making a good impression.
Mirror Their Body Language
Another tip that requires discretion and practice; mirroring someone is a super effective way to make them feel comfortable in your presence. Don’t aim to copy their every move; instead, pick up on the tone and volume of their voice, and speed of talking. Start by matching that.
Choose To Appear Genuine
When we are faking interest in something, the other person is able to tell by reading physical cues that you can’t control. Intuition is much more powerful than your ability to lie; and people will pick up on fake genuity no matter how hard you try. To get around this, choose to discuss things of interest to you when possible. Don’t try to find the topic most interesting to them, instead, aim to find common ground. You’ll get a lot further talking about your common interests, rather than trying to curry favour by discussing their interests. For coworkers, this might mean talking about something at work, rather than asking about a hobby that you know or care little about.
