Successful Blog

How to Leave an Unforgettable First Impression … of the Very Best Kind

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Irresistible Beats Embarrassed Every Time

First impressions. Guess we’ve all made our share of bad ones. In my experience, bad first impressions tend to happen when I try too hard, when I focus on myself and what I want from a certain situation. Whether the occasion is personal or business, if I become about attracting attention, I end up looking like someone who wears sequins and top hat to blue jeans bar … It’s an unforgettable first impression, but not the one I wanted to leave behind.

It happens. People do it. So do big corporations. We’re even inventing new ways to do the equivalent as the noise level rises on the social web.

In a hard economy, first impressions become even more important. People have less time, fewer opportunities, and more competition. A bad first impression may not lead to a chance for a second meeting.

Unfortunately trying too hard usually too often leads to the wrong kind of attention.

Do you, does your business, leave an unforgettable first impression … of the very best kind?

How to Leave an Unforgettable First Impression

In a one-to-one market, every individual and every business is meeting customers as individuals. As the social web grows, people discuss experiences and pass their impressions far further than was ever possible. Suddenly a bad day can become an incident or a nice passing gesture can be raised to heroic. Every first impression has the possibility of being amplified.

We all want to make the positive, unforgettable first impression. That’s the one that wins us friends and business.

What makes someone unforgettable? What makes us want to go out of our way to see someone we hardly know? How do some people leave an indelible first impression so attractive that we look forward to being with them again?

What do those magnetic people and companies consistently offer?

  • a curious, open, intelligent mind
    Some people spark our imagination. They energize and motivate us. When we share a conversation, they literally make our brains light up with thoughts and ideas. Their kind of thinking inspires confidence and respect — in them and in us. People who are mindful and curious find solutions where other folks find problems. They don’t let small differences or ambiguities throw them. They help us find the action inside our ideas. They listen well and respond. We feel that they truly see us.
  • a positive, open, knowing heart
    Some people love living. They don’t really have an easier life; they just look at life and business differently. Small things don’t get to be worries, so they spend time on little disagreements. When others might be a little more distant, they pull us near with positivity. They smile soon as they see us, long before we say say hello. It’s easy to say hello when we feel like we already know them.
  • a clear, open, meaningful purpose
    Some people see the world and everyone in it with the eyes and the mind of a discoverer. When we say things, they listen for what our words mean to us. They know themselves in a real way, which makes them easy to understand and easy to be with. They offer everyone solid ground to stand on, which makes us all feel a little taller when we’re around them.

People like that are unforgettable. When we see them again, we go back to where they’re standing, even if we hardly know them. We want that unforgettable experience again. If we are able, we introduce that unforgettable person to our friends.

It works the same for companies. When companies meet customers in that unforgettable way, customers want to have that experience again. We often tell our friends about how we were treated and bring them back with us so they get the same positive experience.

You might notice that each point closes on the feeling we’re left with. Isn’t that what a first impression is? A feeling about someone or something that we’re getting to know?

People remember most how we make them feel. The most unforgettable people … of the best kind … focus their attention and care on the people around them. They know that an unforgettable positive first impression is the doorway to true communication.

What’s your recipe for a unforgettable first impression of the very best kind? What tools do you use to make that impression a reality?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Do Your Customers Look a Lot Like You? Could that Be a Good Thing?

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People Who Think Like We Do

Starting an online business doesn’t seem that complicated. People do it every day. Some even start by doing what we love — building a product or service that captures their imagination and best skills — because doing what we love makes good business sense. Then they figure out who’s like to buy it.

That’s often where folks make their mistake. They don’t know who their ideal client or customer is. As a product developer, I leanred that building products and services takes a lot of knowing how customers think.

If you don’t already have a customer base that you know intimately and well, or you’re new at making product, it’s likely that the first customers you attract will be folks who look a lot like you. Why is that?

Ever notice a pattern in the people you think of as engaging, entertaining, or just plain smart? Ever notice a corollary pattern in the people you think as … not?

Consider this:
We think people who think like us are smart and people who don’t are being difficult or unable to keep up.

Of course, we allow for migitating circumstances. She’s only 5 years old. He’s having a bad day. He’s not good at math. It’s semantics that threw us off. But if it happens again and again, that person who doesn’t process thoughts the same as we do, must be disagreeable or not too swift — no pleasure to spend time with. Who can blame anyone for that? It seems guaranteed that he or she isn’t having a great time with us.

Sometimes if we listen closely as we talk, we find that the “difficult, not so smart” folks think more like we do than we first suspected. Sometimes we even form a relationship.

Is it a good thing that our customers look like us? What should we do about that?

How Do You Use that to Grow?

So the customers we attract first will be the customers who think like us. It’s only natural they’ll think what we do is smart. They’ll see the brilliance of our products or services. They’ll work with us to fix our problems and will see enough of themselves to forgive our occasional misteps.

That’s why our first customers look so much like us.
That’s why they love what we do.
And I agree with Steve Farber that’s the best foundation on which to build a business …

Do what you love in service to those who love what you do. —Steve Farber

But suppose you’re a rare and divergent thinker … not that we know anyone like that … how can you find a group of customers large enough to sustain a business like that?

As soon as your customers get to know how you think, make it your driving goal to know everything about each one of them. That’s the beauty of the social web. It lets us do that so much easier than we could in the past. But don’t leave out on the gound networking events.

  • Meet them and talk to them one at a time whenever, wherever you can.
  • Ask them about them, not about what you’re doing.
  • Test and try their ideas, ones resonate with them — especially those that make you a little nervous.
  • Give them a stake, a voice, a place in the business.
  • Showcase your regulars so that other folks can identify with them.
  • Be curious, learn from, and fall in love with the differences in the like minds around you.

What will happen next is that, your thinking will grow and change, and together you and they will attract people who look like you and them. Then show everyone how to do the same thing again. Open ideas, open minds, and open doors are how people find their way in.

Of course none of us are the same. But especially on the social web, we know what it means to say that like minds attract. It’s a fact that can dilute a business or be a strategy.

Have you got customers, readers, clients who look like you? Can you make them a bigger part of your business?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Buy the ebook and find out the secret.

Every Participant Can Add Their Best Work

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This year at SOBCon, we’re more than excited. We started planning in October to bring you an event that would be

  • more solid information
  • more time networking
  • more potential partners
  • more opportunities to be SEEN, HEARD, and UNDERSTOOD

As part of that promise, I’m delighted to announce that we’re inviting attendees to participate by adding to the gift bag.

If you have a book, an ebook, a checklist, a product of value that you want to share with the participants to show what you can do, bring it along and add it to the gift back that we distribute. Share what you know. It’s one more way to show folks how and when they might refer you.

Every participant at SOBCon is has a voice that valued.

Liz

A Symphony and SOBCon: Are You Part of Something Bigger than Yourself?

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A Symphony in My Head


There’s a song in my head.
I heard it first quiet in the night at my computer.
Then it came again when I woke.

It never really left me.

It began … looping in and out of days … over two years ago.

I considered it an insignificant melody,
a memory tracing, some forgotten top-40 wonder.

Until I asked … until I tried … until I found …
no one, not anyone, could
recognize it, identify it … hum along,
then I knew.

It was mine.

Not a song, but a score.

When I claimed it, it grew
louder, broader, deeper.
It transformed into a symphony, with horns, woodwinds and strings.
I hear the most delicate and the most booming percussion
with a triangle and an ever-changing, but not-so-different drum.

Yet a symphony in a person’s head is hardly an idea.
It’s colors and rhythms that move hands and words.
(maybe feet when it’s certain no one’s looking.)

It’s still a thought.

To be a symphony it needs
a composer to score it
an orchestra to express it
an audience to participate and receive it …
and a conductor who understands
the music, the instruments, the players, the audience,
and the meaning of intentional serendipity.

A symphony takes breathing and doing
and more than one human being.

A symphony is expertise, artistry, community, and trust made real.

NOTE: When the symphony is playing, I might add room for a little thinking
about possible choreography for occasions when no one’s looking …
or even those when they are.

It’s true I have a symphony in my head. It started as we planned SOBCon07.
And it’s still playing louder, longer, stronger as we plan SOBCon again.

It has me thinking about the phrase “conducting business.” Somewhere inside that phrase is the idea of turning leadership from one to many. A conductor leaves space for the expertise and decisions of the players who know their instruments. Likewise in business, a leader steps back to let many people and their relationships — clients, developers, buyers, sellers, teachers, learners — come together in the best ways. Leaders produce something bigger any one person.

Maybe that’s why that symphony started playing right before SOBCon.

To build the conference, we knew we had to give ourselves over to the people who would be there. We had to step back and leave room for the many relationships — speakers, attendees, sponsors, signers, site managers, bartenders — that come together in the best ways to produce something bigger any one person. We designed it so that attendees would have as much time to talk each other about the ideas — as they did listening to the speakers. We trusted that every person in the room would bring expertise.

People who knew the value of working together were the ones who came to sit at our tables.

The first year we became “an awesome event.” The second year, we began teaming up together. We talked about and tackled real problems. We’re partners, teammates, and coauthors. We’ve entered joint ventures. After we left, we still call each other for support and advice. We still meet, talk, and Twitter. This year we’re coming back with more to offer to each other and every person who joins us. We only have one rule: Be Nice. But we also like it if you’re serious and you come with trust.

And I personally plan to bring more than anyone else in there — including my dearest friends, Mr. Starbucker, Ms. VanFossen, Ms. Piersall , Mr. Clark , Mr. Smith, Mr. Solis, Mr. Bullock, or even my poptart partner Mr. Brogan.

I’m also bringing a special guest … who said he’d help me.
Don’t worry, it’s a fabulously GOOD secret.

Because a symphony is a challenge to bring all that we are. And I plan to be playing with every bit of my head, heart, and purpose.

Every great event, every true community, every well-run business is a symphony, isn’t it?

Ever been to the symphony? Every played in an orchestra? Ever done anything like that? Are you part of something bigger than yourself?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Beach Notes: Beach Blogging Seminar

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by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

Today I was making the badge for my newly launched SAB -Super Abundant Blogger – award. I had just taken this photo when a couple of other regular morning beach walkers, Ros and Ivan, stopped and tried to guess what the letters stood for.

After several guesses we enlightened them. Or thought we had, but then noticed their looks of incomprehension about "bloggers", "blogs" and "blogging".

Ivan wanted to know more.

This led to Des launching into seminar mode – he can’t help himself when there is some blogging evangelism to be done, even on the beach in his board shorts – and 20 minutes or so later we continued our beach walk.

As we walked away Des said:

You heard Ivan say at first when he heard "web" that he is okay with his phone and his fax?  Well, from being "okay with a phone and a fax" he went to starting to see how blogging might help with a community project he has. He asked me if I had a business card. Not right now, I said, but I’ll bring one next time. No question his interest is piqued.

Des did also tell the story of how just 3 short years ago, my eyes glazed over when he launched into seminar mode!

Blogging maybe dead for some, for others it still hasn’t been born!

How did you respond the first time you heard about blogging?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh