I recently heard a great piece on This American Life about how, despite the fact that we are all admonished from birth with the phrase, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover,” sometimes it’s impossible to NOT go with your gut instinct, your first impression, your snap judgments. In fact, there’s some research that states that over the long term, businesses can obtain better ROI by making rapid decisions based on partial information versus slow decisions based on a full understanding of all ramifications… but I digress.

What I’m getting to is impressions. First impressions, ongoing impressions – Jason, among other people, has always said that every interaction with another human being is an opportunity to market yourself. Every one. Running to the grocery store in your PJs to get coffee creamer at 4am? Trust that you left an impression on someone. And of COURSE it’s true that you can never know who your next customer or partner might be – your doctor may be looking for a grant writer for his NP’s next mission trip to the Congo, the quiet fellow in your bible study group may need some marketing help for his bungee jumping business, or your hairdresser might need her classic cars website updated…so, yeah, you want to be the best you that you can be in all of those “potential opportunity” situations.

But while that’s true, I just can’t work that hard. I like my hairdresser, and she knows what I do. But if she wants to hire someone to update her website and she doesn’t think of me, I’m okay with that. I want her to cut my hair well, and I want to be able to relax in her chair. She’s part of my community, and I’m her customer, and I want to feel like that around her.

However… I don’t often meet clients in my office, but when someone DOES engage me on a project, or wants to discuss a current project, I shave and put on a nice shirt to meet them. I feel better about it, and in this line of work, customers appreciate it. They also appreciate prompt follow ups. They appreciate a hand-written note on occasion (I should really do that more often). And I want to convey that they are worth the effort. I want their impression of me to be memorable, and I want them to think of me for their next project. And the next one. And the next one.tie

This came up because I just received the following email. You probably recognize it, but if you don’t I’m glad I was able to share it with you and I recommend checking them out. For YEARS they have been creating an awesome impression with the smallest amount of effort:

Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, August 4, 2009.
We hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. In commemoration, we have placed your picture on our wall as “Customer of the Year.” We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh…

We miss you already. We’ll be right here at http://cdbaby.com/, patiently awaiting your return.

Mimeo.com, whom I’ve written about before, sends an email when they ship items that says “Prepare to be delighted!” I love that.

Impressions. What do you do to make an impression? I’d love your ideas.

Be free,

Jeff