Ever had someone make a really great first impression on you ?

Probably quite often.

A lot of people are pretty good at making an impression when you first meet them. Do some decent training on networking and you can get pretty good too.

Ever had someone make a really great second impression?

It's much rarer.

Most of the time the folks who make a good first impression leave it at that. They don't follow up.

A few days later, you've probably forgotten them. They've merged into to the mass of other people who made a good first impression too, but you never heard from since (unless they wanted something from you).

Good second impressions stand out because you rarely get them.

When I'm on my game, I'm pretty good at second impressions.

If I meet people I think I could be helpful to and vice versa, I'll check out their Linkedin profile and see if I can find them on google. If they mentioned something they were interested in when we spoke I'll check that out too to see if I can find something helpful for them.

Then I'll email them the next day and try to say something relevant and useful.

Same goes with Linkedin connection requests. You go to all the effort of requesting to connect with someone, or someone interesting offers to connect with you…you click yes to accept the connection…then nothing.

What was the point? Are you hoping the mere fact of connecting with them will burn you into their memory forever so they'll contact you when they need you?

Highly doubtful.

You need to make a great second impression. Check out their profile. Do a little bit of deeper research. Send them a “thanks for connecting” message that's funny, useful, interesting. Anything to make you stand out, and to get a conversation going.

Now in all honesty, I'm not “on my game” on this one all that often. Most usually I'll just click “accept” and leave it at that like everyone else.

So this email is as much a reminder to me as to you that making a great second impression can be hugely valuable. It really makes you stand out.

It might feel like a bit of a drag to do that research and type out the personalised email – but it works.

Some of my best contacts have come from people I've made a great second impression with (or people who've made a great second impression on me).

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realise how foolish I am not to use this technique every time! It only takes a few minutes really.