You’ll find a lot of studies revealing how much of communication is nonverbal. Body language creates a more true measure of what the person is actually trying to communicate. Compare this to what is coming out of their mouths. In your business, communication attracts or repels the customers that you want.
How to Use Body Language
On the Small Business Radio Show this week, I talked with Greg Hartley who served for nearly twenty years as an intelligence collector and interrogator with the U.S. Army. His new book is called “Get People to Do What You Want: How to Use Body Language and Words to Attract People You Like and Avoid the Ones You Don’t”.
As an interrogator, Greg describes the ideal way to get information from people is not to threaten them, but to talk calmly. He says that the best way to open up communication channels (with customers or employees) is to nod your head when people are talking even if you disagree with them.
Taking the Next Step
Consider the next step. Watch any physical changes in their body behavior while they are talking. You’ll find this especially if they are in a stressful situation. Crossing their arms may mean nothing. Greg says “look for what is normal for that person and then look for a deviation…when they change their behavior, it tells them something has changed in their mind and you need to probe for that.” Similarly, he remind us that when you are in a selling situation “if their chin goes to your level, or they meet your eyes, or give a slight smile, the customer is signaling that they are buying what you are selling.”
Contrary to popular belief, making eye contact does not mean the person is telling the truth. Greg believes that “if a person is staring at you, they are probably lying.”
Want to attract customers to your business? Greg says you must get them to want to be part of “your group by raising their self-esteem.” Get prospects to think their self-esteem will go higher by being a customer of your company. You’ll probably win them over for life.
Listen to the entire interview on the Small Business Radio Show.
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