The last impression is the lasting impression!

I heard Chris Voss, a famous author of the book “never split the difference”, he spoke about Oprah’s rule, and shared an example of how he ends a conversation by saying “I want us to be successful together”. Bam!!! it hit me.

All our life we have been taught to create the “BEST” first impression because “The first impression is the last impression” and after 38 years of the head-scratching, I realize that it was nothing but hocus pocus.

Why “The first impression is the last impression” a myth?

Because it is artificial!

Take your interviews for example. Do you wear the same outfit which you wear on a regular workday? Or you are in those uncomfortable formal trousers and a full sleeve shirt. Now give it a second and think, just in case you got to the next round of discussion. Was it because what you were wearing or how you did in your discussion and how confidently YOU closed the discussion?

Let’s take another example, You finally took your crush on a date and she called you back. Did she call you back because you were all “lord Rama” when you met her or because you were a great companion and showed respect and how the night ended…

Why “The last impression is the lasting impression!” called Oprah’s rule?

As I read, not that I am lucky to get the first-hand experience.

When you work with Oprah or any of her staff, they want to make sure you feel respected and well treated at all times, but especially at the end.

The reason for this is, we humans don’t remember things in the right sequence, we remember the most significant part and then how it ended. While a lot of important details are sometimes missed.

How to use this concept in customer service?

Let me clarify it first, I am not saying that you don’t focus on first, second or any of your subsequent impressions, we should always be at our best, however, I wish to bring attention to the last opportunity for creating a lasting impression.

Many a time I have seen people giving up even before closing the discussion! Sometimes we work on problems that cannot be solved or have to be deferred. These discussions also leave a lasting impression with our customers in a good way or a bad way depending on what we did in the end.

We can use these following tools to ensure we leave our customers with a feeling of satisfaction, while we direct them to someone else.

• Practicing overall ownership and empathy
• Sharing a detailed closure summary
• Customer education (How and Why )
• Assurance to help the customer by collaborating with a third party if needed.

Summary

Great first impressions are important but in today’s world it doesn’t help much, you can get noticed but you can screw it up and lose it all.

However, if you focus on making sure your last impression becomes the best, you ensure that YOU win a lost deal or at least you are giving yourself another shot at it.