The skies are grimly grey. The wind is giving the trees a workout. A jogger goes past wearing a woolly hat. It’s cold outside. Wrong! The visual clues communicate cold weather, and although it isn’t exactly balmy, it isn’t really cold. A classic case of perception v. reality.

First impressions count. You’ve heard it dozens of times I’m sure. And they do. They are the foundations of our perceptions. But as we have already seen, perception and reality are often significantly different. Shiny on the outside doesn’t always equate to a great experience once we progress beyond the glitz. And a shabby exterior can often mask a great customer experience. But it’s more complicated than that.

A shiny exterior – shop, website, whatever it might be – can give off different signals. Or to be more accurate, we can perceive different things. (1) It looks posh, therefore it must be expensive; (2) It looks inviting, I want to go in.  If we perceive it to be expensive, we may be attracted because we think good service will be on offer, or we may be deterred because we think we can’t afford it. I told you it was complex!

It’s a bit simpler if the exterior looks uncared for. We won’t venture any further. That is unless something/someone has told us not to be put off by the exterior.

You may have perceived that I am talking about buildings, websites, organisations; after all those are the clues I’ve given you. But what about people? If you are interviewing someone for a job or considering hiring them to do some work for you, you are likely to make the same judgements, which may or may not be correct.

So what is the answer?  How should we present ourselves? You could try tossing a coin. Or you could think about your target customers and ask yourself what they might expect to find. And remember that it is usually wise to be slightly over-dressed rather than under-dressed. Which can apply to buildings as much as to people. But maybe most of all you should be you. The real person/business that the customer will experience. After all, they’ll find out eventually, so why not be consistent from the outset?