We all know how important first impressions can be, but few of us realize just how quickly these impressions are formed. It doesn’t take a minute or two – or even 30 seconds – for a prospective client to appraise your employees and come to a judgement. It’s far less time. Recent studies have found that people form their first impressions within one tenth of a second.

One hundred milliseconds is no time at all, and because of that very often first impressions can lack accuracy. Unfortunately, the old adage that, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” is true. Whatever split second judgements new clients make based on your employee’s appearance – accurate or not – can stick around for a lot longer than one tenth of a second. These impressions can leave an indelible mark on their thoughts about the employee in question and the brand they’re representing.

Though you only have a blink of an eye, it’s important that you equip your employees with all of the tools available to make the best first impression with new clients. There’s a reason why you enforce a dress code in the office, but why stop at what your employee’s wear? When they go to trade shows or client meetings, it’s not just the clothes that they wear that affect the first impressions that they make. It’s the condition of their laptops and any other gear they use.

It doesn’t matter how well dressed your employee is. If they pull out their beat-up Dell XPS 13 that looks like its seen better days during a meeting or presentation, people will take notice – for the wrong reasons. The sight of a battered Dell suggests the employee doesn’t care about their equipment or the impression that a damaged computer makes. Whether or not it’s true, as their brand ambassador, this impression reflects poorly on you.

To make sure your employees and your brand hit all the right notes, equip every laptop with a vinyl skin. Dell XPS 13 skins are custom-fit coverings that wrap around the computer and conceal any existing damage. They also prevent any additional damage from creating even more scuffs, scratches, or gouges in the surface of the Dell.

Meanwhile, it projects to the world your chosen color, as Dell XPS 13 skins can take on any color or texture combination that you want. To see what kind of selection is available check out dbrand.com/shop/dell-xps-13. As the boss of vinyl skins, they offer up a ton of options, from bright neon pink carbon fiber to ultra-sophisticated mahogany. There’s bound to be your preferred color-texture combo in their build a skin feature. That means, at the next trade show or client meeting, your employee can open up a laptop covered in the company colors.

Imagine the kind of impression a Dell XPS 13 skin would make when your employees are out at a conference or trade show. Rather than their laptop’s sad history of damages, they’ll be showing to the clients and competitors alike the company colors. In a sea of black laptops, it would only take one tenth of a second to find your employees.