There is no equal to the first impression. However, there is a stronger key element that happens in many instances prior to you offering a hand shake. It's the introduction of you by a friend/colleague to the new potential client, employer, or even spouse.
How do your friends introduce you? Fair is fair, so I'll also ask how do you introduce your friends? Do you manage the simple, "This is Solange." If introductions were a building, that is the bare minimum ground floor. Where is your top floor penthouse level of introduction?
I have a land-use, real estate transaction lawyer friend. I love him because he's always helping me network, introducing me to his clients who may need my engineering services. Terry introduces me as "Yes, this is Solange, the best civil engineer in town. She's won the Engineer of the Year award for Central Florida." Terry is the master at pumping up his friends with coronation-style introductions. He doesn't lie, I did get the honor of young engineer of the year.... in 2000. For Terry, he believes in my skills thus portrays me as the best.
It is time we remember to pumped each other up. It simply takes is a few adjectives like best, awesome, dedicated, ingenious, motivated, influential... you get the drift of the Pa-Pow! introductory method.
We are not fostering lies. Yet there's nothing wrong with embellishing the truth. A quick story on livening up the truth for the sake of emphasis is my ski friend Jim H. I love to ski thus lead a ski trips for the Orlando Ski Club to Steamboat, CO. Our airport transfer bus pulled up to the lodge around 1pm. Jim, giving his roommate his luggage, jumped off the bus, and headed straight to the slopes for the last 3-hrs of the day. Everyday, Jim skiied from first chair lift up to last tracks down the mountain. He loved skiing. When I saw Jim a few months after our week-long ski trip ended, I introduced Jim as "the only man I know who can ski eight days on a 7-day ski trip!" Now, that's a guy who loves skiing.
Remember to be a gracious acceptor of the Pa-Pow! introduction. Thank your complimentor with a likewise statement of his/her abilities (i.e. "I have to be the best to keep up with the most influential lawyer in town."). Shake hands with your new acquaintance and smile, for your first impression has already been brought up several notches by the Pa-Pow! introduction.
Help us all learn thru your comments: if I were to introduce you, what would you want me to say?
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