IMPRESSIONS
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Our first impressions aren’t important – T/F?
Everyone has a story about a bad first impression of someone who turns out to be an important, trusted friend of 40+ years. I have one. But those are the exceptions, are they not?
Impressions, the first ones, last.
The restaurant you’ve never tried before, the website you’ve never visited before, the publication you’ve never read before, or the service you’ve never tried before – get one chance to make their first impression. I sometimes wonder how concerned they are – those who want my business – about my first impression of them.
One chance, that’s what any of us get.
I was reminded of this recently – I patronized a restaurant (first time) and a delivery service (first time), and it didn’t go well. And later that day, several others in my office commented, “don’t use them – you get far better service from __________.”
Next time I order, I’ll go to the restaurant’s website first rather than via the delivery service website – and I’m not going to give you the blow-by-blow drama of asking for my money back for the food that wasn’t delivered from a restaurant dismissing and telling me to get my refund from the delivery service (they, incidentally, claimed they delivered everything the restaurant gave them).
I was, at the time, of the view that somebody had my $5 side-dish, and they also had my money.
Imagine how differently I would have felt if the restaurant had simply said, “We’re sorry about that – we’ll send out the missing dish.”
This little tempest-in-the-teapot (after two days of emails and calls, I got a credit on my credit card from the delivery service, though I never got a reply from those guys) got me thinking – not about entering the restaurant business or developing a charm school for their staff. It got me thinking of something I learned decades ago and sometimes need a reminder – that first impressions matter. They matter huge.
Can’t be changed, can’t be undone, and sometimes that’s what stands between us and the next opportunity.
Will I trust that delivery service again?
Probably not. Interestingly they processed my order through the restaurant’s outlet that was furthest away (perhaps the least busy) from my destination, making me question their thinking.
Will I trust that restaurant again? I might give them a second try (their food was excellent), but there many restaurants out there that have been hurting these past couple of years, so I think I’ll deposit my business in other places before I go back to that one.
Mostly I’m getting hungry writing this.
Conversely, if I want to address this seriously, I should ask about others and my clients – what is their first impression of me?
Moral of this story: walk or drive to your favourite restaurant and ‘skip the call’ to the delivery service. And, kudos to Chachi’s … though uncooperative initially, they finally made a good second impression. The food was good and, apparently, they’re trying to improve their service.