First Impression Counts By: Jun Loayza
Under: Interview, NetworkingAs a child, my father always told me, “Dress how you want, as long as it gets you the girl.” He was right.
I used to go to school wearing flip flops with socks, Hawaiian t-shirts, and a big fro on my head. Needless to say, I was the last person on any girls’ mind. Although I was friendly, nice, and confident, girls were only interested in being my friend because my first impression for them was an unattractive, genuinely nice guy. When I turned 18, I started wearing slim-fit jeans, brand t-shirts, rainbow sandals, and a European Mohawk. Girls were no longer a problem. I realized that first impressions count more than most people think. When a girl first meets you, she decides right then whether you’re a potential friend, or if you’re going to be her next boyfriend.
Your brand is the first impression of your company. The first time a customer sets foot in your store, visits your site, or talks to a customer representative, you will immediately make an impression of whether they will continue to do business with you, or move on to one of your competitors. A great brand invokes a positive feeling in the customers and employees. Take a moment and think of what feelings arise when you think of Starbucks. You pay a ridiculous amount of money not just for coffee, but for the entire experience: the aroma of coffee, the attentive and young service, a place to meet for business or pleasure. You pay for the Starbucks experience; you pay for the brand.
The Gap at South Coast Plaza gives off very mixed first impressions to its customers. My first impression was a very colorful, organized, friendly store with great and fast customer service. My friend’s first impression was the exact opposite – a disorganized, unfriendly store with slow customer service. It made little sense to me about how my friend and I could have such opposite first impressions about a store, so I decided to investigate.
The problem with the Gap was that they had very inconsistent customer service. Each employee had a different way of doing things, so each time you walked into the store, you would get a different employee and thus a different experience. Consistency and predictability are important to every retail store. The customer wants to know that each time he or she walks into the store, he or she will get the same great quality service that he or she received last time. This problem not only affects customer loyalty among your current customers, but it affects first time customers on a grander scale.
In order for word-of-mouth to spread about a positive experience, the experience must be exceptionally amazing to motivate the customer to tell his friends about it. In contrast, the experience need only be somewhat negative in order for word-of-mouth to spread about a bad experience that a customer had at your store. Therefore, if your first time customers have different first impressions of your store, chances are that those who receive bad first impressions from your company will most likely tell their friends about it.
In order for Gap to become a great store at South Coast Plaza, they need to have consistently great and predictable customer service. Is your product or service consistent and predictable? Remember, you only have one chance to hook your customer and brand yourself in their minds as a great company. Make your first impression count!
Popularity: 12% [?]
