Make a great first impression

Make Eye Contact.
Eye contact establishes trust and credibility. Awareness is half the battle here, as eye contact is not typically a hard step for people to internalize.

Smile with your eyes.
Lift your eyebrows and crinkle your eyes around the edges.

Focus on your similarities.
When you want to make a great first impression, always look for similarities and focus on those. Instantly, you will be seen in a positive light, as the person will see themselves in you–and who doesn’t like themselves?

Reflect the emotional cues of the speaker.
For example, laugh at someone’s jokes or curse the traffic just as they do. You’re not lying or conveying something that you don’t feel, you’re just increasing the amount of social lubricant in a situation.

Send the right body language signals.
Avoid sending out negative and closed off body signals. So, Beware of how you cross your arms, stand or lean back to appear standoffish, your facial expression while listening, how much you cover your face, fidget, and which direction you point your toes in.