A great business first impression

When Mary walked into the beauty store, she was excited about finding the perfect makeup to wear on her graduation day. The lady behind the counter was on her phone, probably scrolling through Instagram. When Mary said hello, she looked up unsmiling, as though annoyed at the interruption, and right there and then, Mary was sure she needed to try the next shop. After all, Nairobi is not short of beauty shops.

According to Forbes, within the first seven seconds of meeting, people will have a solid impression of who you are — and some research suggests a tenth of a second is all it takes to start determining traits like trustworthiness. This works too for businesses.