first impressions become big investments

By Raj Raghunathan

You’re seated in the waiting room of a Fortune 500 company about to meet a new and very important client. You should be sitting up straight, dressed for success in a pressed shirt and slacks, wearing your shiniest shoes, not a hair out of place.

The client enters the room and you give a firm handshake and warm smile. In that moment, something crucial and irreversible happens. Your client has just made a judgment about you that will likely be remembered for the duration of your relationship.

In our research, my co-author Rebecca W. Naylor and I find that first impressions matter a great deal. Within the first two or three seconds of meeting someone for the first time, this person has already made a “thin slice” or snap judgment about you. And whether it’s positive or negative, this snap judgment is usually quite accurate and may stick with you forever.

That’s because nonverbal signs have a lot of information in them. While conventional wisdom says you shouldn’t pay attention to how people look, our research shows that the physical person who is speaking makes a stronger impression than what they say.

In most situations, attractive people are usually perceived as harder working, more confident and more professional than those who are less good-looking.

When participants in one of my field studies rated the attractiveness of six financial planners, the research showed a strong correlation between how each individual was rated and how successful they were in business (or how many assets each person was managing).

In a similar study of restaurant servers, preliminary evidence indicates that good-looking people can use their looks to their advantage by appearing aloof. People value things that are attractive and not immediately available. Good-looking waiters can get away with being less attentive to patrons because it piques the customer’s interest. Less attractive waiters, however, are better off acting friendly to customers if they want a larger tip.

Of course, having the looks won’t always work in your favor. In some situations it actually works against you. For example, we find that in sales contexts and other situations where cynicism is more prevalent, the nonverbal attributes usually perceived in a positive light by customers may become a liability.

This is presumably because customers are wary of smooth-talking, good-looking salespeople, and they believe such “suave” salespersons don’t have the client’s best interest in mind. In many sales contexts, customers may thus trust the harmless, non-pushy, nerdy type.

We also have some preliminary evidence which indicates that good looks can sometimes be taken as a cue that one is not sincere, intelligent or professional. In one study, we exposed students to descriptions of (hypothetical) professors. In some cases, the professors were described as being “good-looking,” “fun” and “attractive.” In others, they were described as being “normal” and “not very attractive.” Students believed they would learn less from professors who were more attractive to look at and fun to be around.

Whether looks have a positive or a negative impact on inferences thus depends on many factors, including whether one is exposed to a visual representation of the person (e.g., a picture) or a verbal representation (e.g., a verbal description).

This information may be discouraging to some. But if you feel you aren’t skilled at making good first impressions, expose yourself to other people’s nonverbal behavior and become conscious of the signals we all project. Also, take corrective action: Videotape yourself talking and watch for mistakes with your appearance, tone of voice and posture.

Obviously, make an effort to put your best foot forward during job interviews and important meetings. Avoid taking risks, and instead focus on exuding a sense of care. So while that first handshake may feel loaded with the pressure of making a good impression, it’s much easier to start on the right foot than try to remediate a bad impression.

Raj Raghunathan is an assistant marketing professor in the McCombs School. He is the lead author of the article, “Nonverbal Cues–Based First Impressions: What Can Static Images of Salespersons Tell Us About Their Success at Selling?”