I recently attended an event where the speaker was an Image Consultant. The turn-out seemed through the roof and the information was so obvious. I was thinking “who doesn’t know this?”

Since then, I’ve spent some time thinking about this topic and was reminded of a program I had the opportunity to be involved in creating and rolling out at a previous employer called The Basics of Professional Selling. It was a program designed for new sales reps and taught them basic sales ettiquette and sales “fashion”. It was a fun program and the presenter always had the room laughing hysterically about the don’ts.

That program dates back to 2002 and I realize that now image includes so much more than your fashion choices. It is now your LinkedIn profile, your Facebook page, your Twitter updates and so on and so on.

In a more competitive world, the first impression rule still exists. People just have so many more opportunities to determine their first impression than they’ve had in the past. So, while the image consultant didn’t teach the room anything they didn’t already know about appropriate fashion choices, she did get me thinking about first impressions in this new world.

First impressions may not be fair, but they are real.

Please share your thoughts on how to make great first impressions for a competitive edge.