In “Blink: The Power to Think Without Thinking,” acclaimed author Malcolm Gladwell addresses first impressions. His book doesn’t come from the angle of how to make great first impressions – a genuine smile, firm handshake, pressed clothing and all those tips we’ve turned into habits over the years.

Rather, Gladwell’s book is centered on the subconscious and our fascinating brain processes of sorting, blending, connecting and isolating huge amounts of data and details to form first impressions.

In two seconds.

According to Gladwell, it takes only two seconds – a blink of time – to form a conclusion in nearly any scenario we face.

You walk into a prospect’s office and before you even begin your pitch, you’ve determined what you need to do to ensure a more successful meeting. Perhaps the person’s voice saying, “Thank you for coming,” juxtaposed with dullness in his eyes, a disarray of papers on the desk or a harried assistant scurrying out communicates anything but “welcome.”

You read my headline. If you’ve made it this far in the article, then you concluded upon first impression that this just might be worth your time today.

The power to absorb relentless amounts of information and to sift the details into an actionable conclusion is incredibly … human.

Human nature is a too-often-neglected ingredient in sales and marketing strategies. Techniques to persuade or incite action must account for the fact that we’re all, as Gladwell says, thinking even when we’re not thinking.

Techniques that don’t consider human nature can easily become stymied by others’ conclusions that took just a blink to form.

Here are three common areas in sales and marketing where day-to-day first impressions take just two seconds to make – or break – your success outlook.

Your tone: In verbal communication, sharpness or ease in tone is easily detectable. Your greeting might as well be your closing.

Be aware of how your tone communicates what words don’t say. In branding, everything from color selection to the choice of punctuation in a tagline communicates tone.

Your posture: Are you confident, rested and eager? Or are you tired, overwhelmed and near your breaking point?

How you carry yourself communicates mounds of information about how reliable you might be as a business partner, boss or employee.

Your front-line staff: Do the people answering your phones and tweeting your updates convey the right impression of your business?

Your front-line staff represents the value you bring to the marketplace before you even get a chance to, and training them to make the right impression is time well spent.

With information transfer happening at this speed, you won’t get it right all the time. That’s OK; neither do I. But if you’ve made it this far in the article, then – blink – I made an impression today.

Catherine (Kitty) Taylor is the vice president for RedRover Sales & Marketing Strategy.