Put your best work into the first meeting, because it counts for more the longer a client looks back

By Liv Saville, Head of Growth at Worthington

Relationship marketing·October 1, 2026·7 min read

A 2024 study in the Journal of Business Research found that first impressions contributed most to how hotel guests rated staff and their overall stay, and that they mattered more the longer guests waited before giving that rating. My view is that agents should plan the first reply and first meeting with a client as carefully as they plan the closing.

In a five-year hotel study, the first impression outweighed the peak and the ending

In First Impressions vs. The Peak-End Rule, published in the Journal of Business Research in 2024, Heath McCullough and five colleagues looked at how a series of interactions with frontline staff adds up to a customer's view of the whole experience. They built a field study from customer interactions with hotel staff, covering more than 5,000 customer stays across a five-year period.

They found that key moments in a stay significantly affected guests' satisfaction with it: the first impression, the peak impressions and the last impression. The authors note that earlier research had indicated the robustness of the peak-end rule, and their results went a different way: first impressions were the most important contributor both to how guests evaluated the frontline employees and to their overall satisfaction with the stay.

The authors also introduce a construct they call retrospective delay, meaning the time between the experience itself and the moment a customer evaluates it. They found that first impressions became more critical as that delay increased. They also suggest that when an experience is measured could explain some of the conflicting findings in earlier service research about whether a positive start pays off.

The start of a relationship is what holds up as the months pass

The authors' account centres on timing. A rating given right after a stay and a rating given much later draw on the same experience, and in their data the first impression carried more weight in the later one. The abstract I read doesn't spell out why memory works this way, and I won't guess at a mechanism they didn't state. For an agent, the practical point is that the moment of evaluation keeps moving further from the transaction.

That is why I think this study fits real estate closely, even though it wasn't about real estate. A hotel guest might rate a stay the week they check out. A client who bought a house from you is asked about you for years afterwards, when a colleague mentions they're thinking of selling or a neighbour wants a name. Each of those moments is an evaluation made after a long delay, and in the hotel data, long delays favoured the first impression.

This was a study of hotel stays and hotel staff, and I've read the published abstract only, since the full paper is behind a paywall. It measured how guests rated employees and how satisfied they were with the stay. It didn't measure referrals, repeat business or anything about buying or selling a home. Carrying the finding over to how past clients think about their agent is my own reading, and I'd treat it as a reason to give the start of a relationship more care while leaving the size of any payoff in real estate as an open question.

Plan the first reply and the first meeting as carefully as the closing

Agents I've spoken to have said the closing gets a lot of their attention. The study found last impressions also significantly affected satisfaction, so none of that is wasted. What it adds is a reason to give the start of the relationship at least the same care.

Start with the first reply to a new inquiry. In my view, that email is the first impression for many clients, and it happens before you've met. Answer the question they actually asked in the first two lines, and close by saying plainly when you'll be in touch next. Agents I've spoken to have said first replies often get written in a rush between showings, so I'd write two or three reply templates this month for your most common inquiries and personalize the opening line each time.

Prepare for the first meeting as you would for a listing presentation. Read everything the client has told you so far, and bring one thing back to them that shows you listened, such as the school they mentioned or the commute they're trying to shorten. Write down what they tell you in that meeting, because the details from the first conversation are the ones that let you pick up where you left off months later.

Treat a referred client's first contact with extra care. In my view they arrive with an impression already shaped by whoever recommended you, and my reading of the study is that your first interaction with them sets the frame they'll use when someone later asks them about you.

Finally, when you ask a past client for a review or a referral years after closing, keep in mind that the study found first impressions weigh more as time passes. My reading is that a client's answer draws on the whole relationship, including how it started, which gives you one more reason to plan the first meeting well.

A fast, personal first reply is where Worthington does his part

Getting the first reply right every time is hard when leads arrive at all hours and you're in the middle of live deals. Worthington drafts a conversational reply to a new lead as soon as it arrives, written in your tone of voice, for you to review and send. He builds a detailed contact record right away, so what a lead said in their first message is there when you prepare for the first meeting.

For hotter or more sensitive leads, Worthington sends no placeholder reply at all. He texts you straight away so that you make the first personal contact yourself. In my reading that choice sits well with this finding, since the first contact is the moment a client is likely to weigh most when they look back.

A client might judge you at closing, and they'll judge you again every time someone asks them for an agent's name over the years that follow. The hotel study suggests the start of the experience carries more of that later judgment than the ending does, so give it the time it deserves.

Worthington draws on research like this to shape a nurturing strategy for each of your clients. Join the waitlist