The road to success is always under construction. -Lily Tomlin
The first impression clients have of you occur within the first seconds of your meeting. Your appearance says who you are, but later impressions can either reinforce or discount your appearance.
If you’re the representative of your construction business (And guess what? Everyone on the payroll represents your construction business.), you want to win friends and influence people* to work with you or for you because they had positive first impressions that were reinforced with solid information.
The other first impressions are:
- Aggression
- Competence
- Likeability
- Trustworthiness
But not necessarily in that order.
Construction Business Competition: Second Place Is the First Loser
Can character be learned? Construction management professor Joe Egan says character is built. To build character, we must survive losses.
“Survival requires the resiliency of a rubber band snapping back from being stretched,” says Egan. “It hurts to try hard and still experience failure…this requires positive character. Emotions lead to reactions, which lead to behavior, which then defines your character.”
Emotional intelligence separates successful construction business managers from the wannabes. Internal emotional intelligence is your ability to control your emotions. External emotional intelligence is the ability to manage your reactions to others’ emotions.
When there are challenges and a client comes to you with problems, that means you are trusted.
You Have One Chance To Make a Good First Impression
Successful business management isn’t about doing everything right. It’s about doing a lot of things right and effectively managing the things that go wrong. That ability can give you personal pride as well as professional achievement. To be successful, be especially careful with those first steps or first impressions.
Fortunately, you have many opportunities to improve your construction business. We have several we can share with you. Our marketing pros want to show you how our data analytics can not only “win friends and influence people” but also make money. Ask us to tell you about one of the best investments you can make this year. Contact Construction Monitor.