BizSugar.com › Marketing › 7 Seconds to Make a First Impression

You meet a business acquaintance for the first time – it could be your new boss, a recent addition to your team, or a potential client you want to sign up.

The moment that stranger sees you, his or her brain makes a thousand computations: Are you someone to approach or to avoid? Are you friend or foe? Do you have status and authority? Are you trustworthy, competent, likeable, confident?

And these computations are made at lightning speed. Researchers from NYU found that we make eleven major decisions about one another in the first seven seconds of meeting.