Body Language: What you say when you are not talking

Every year thousands of businesses leave millions of dollars on the table because executives, managers, supervisors and salespeople don’t know how to read body language before the message is put into words. Your body is giving out many messages at the same time. By reading only one of the signals, you could get the completely wrong message. That can be the difference between clinching the deal and losing it.

So, what do executives, managers, and salespeople do?

They attend yet another seminar on negotiation and sales skills.

An obvious mismatch of disease and remedy.

In 1971 Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA, reached two conclusions, one was that there are basically three elements in any face-to-face communication, Words, tone of voice and body language. He discovered that these three elements account differently for the meaning of the message. Words account for 7%, tone of voice accounts for 38% and body language accounts for 55% of the message.

As estimated 55% to 93% of human communication is non-verbal, and your body language reveals your internal emotional state. And we know that buying decisions are based on emotions and then rationalized with intellect. Whether someone’s parents just died, or whether they just got promoted to CEO… you can tell by observing their body language. Some call it the art and science of reading people. We have to take responsibility ourselves for any failure to communicate effectively. It’s OUR fault and not the fault of our listeners. It’s like target shooting. When we miss the target, it’s not the target’s fault. We have to aim better.

When you were a young child, have you ever tried to decode what your parent’s facial expressions meant when you ask them to buy you a new toy or to take you to Disneyworld?  A frown would likely mean “No!” But a nod would make you jump with joy. In your business interactions, it is necessary to be able to detect if other people will agree with your decision or proposals. And you have to be able to detect this message way before they say it. Especially because in many cases they don’t say it as they mean it. This is just a healthy dosage of deception inherent in business communications. See how many prospects drag salespeople by their noses, but those prospects know that these prospects never buy. Verbally, they promise the sun and the moon, but in reality, they have no intentions of buying. Being able to read the body language of others is an ability that can truly help negotiators, employers and salespeople to succeed in their ventures because they would be able to change their approach early enough to adjust to a specific situation.

We offer a practical workshop entitled “Body Language: What you say when you are not talking!” We offer this program to a broad range of business professionals, including senior executives, directors of boards, line managers and salespeople.

Body language influences both the workplace and our personal lives. It can either help you achieve your goals or undermine your efforts. When you understand the messages your body language sends, you’re in a position to manage them and ensure that they are congruent with what you want to say.

Body language, our non-verbal communications, include: Movement, Facial expressions, Posture & Gestures. Just because you’re not talking doesn’t mean you’re not communicating. In fact, a large part of what you communicate is transmitted by body language cues.

Participant will:

• Learn how to read what others are thinking.
• Learn how to read positive body language.
• Learn how to read negative and aggressive body language.
• Learn how to tell when someone is lying or thinks that you are lying.
• Learn steps on how to improve your body language skills.
• Learn how to manipulate other people’s body language to your advantage.

Contact us today to schedule a time for us to talk so that together we can design a program most suitable for your specific situation!