A Shake-y Start: Handshake Etiquette for the Best First Impression

As a small business owner, I regularly attend networking functions, client meetings, and many other events that begin with, end with, or otherwise involve a handshake (and sometimes several). Having spent the last few years working in-house for the same company, it’s been a while since I’ve really had to consider first impressions, but I’ve learned quickly just how important a handshake can be in that regard. A good handshake marks you as professional, confident, and polite, while a bad one singles you out as sloppy, weak, or even rude.

If you’re concerned your handshake might be saying the wrong thing about you, here are five top tips for delivering a proper, good-first-impression-making handshake:

1. Look, then touch: The start of a good handshake is actually eye contact. It wouldn’t hurt to throw in a little smile, either. 
2. Go all the way: Many people make the mistake of simply touching or squeezing fingers, but this gesture does not a handshake make. For a proper handshake—one that says, “I’m a confident, suave professional, and you want to know me”—your thumbs should interlock. When you reach out, keep your fingers together, pinky toward the floor, and extend your thumb. Make sure the flesh between your thumb and forefinger touches the flesh between the other person’s thumb and forefinger so that your hands are fully palm to palm. 
3. Think pressure, not power: A handshake should be firm, but you shouldn’t be squeezing the other person’s hand like it’s a stress ball. Give it a slight squeeze, the way you might a piece of fruit in the supermarket. (Note: This takes practice, and most often requires you to take cues from the other person—one person’s squeeze is another person’s death grip.) 
4. Shake it easy: The other person’s hand is not a water pump; there’s no need to move it frantically up and down. A single, short up-and-down movement should be enough. Three is the maximum. 
5. Keep it brief: A handshake need only last 2 or 3 seconds—any more, and it begins to feel more like holding hands. This is an introduction, not a relationship.

As with most things, practice makes perfect, so don’t be afraid to ask friends or colleagues to give you some feedback and help you master the art of shaking hands. Odds are, they could use your feedback, too.

A handshake may not be all it takes to do business these days, but it’s still an important part of the transaction. Whether you’re making first contact or sealing the deal, your handshake is telling others something about who you are and how you do business—make sure it’s saying something positive.