Nonverbal Communications that Work

Nonverbal communications, such as facial expressions, voice tone, handshakes, gestures, appearance, and posture, are all important aspects of building relationship with your customers or audiences. Clear and effective communication is essential during presentations, whether for board rooms full of executives, auditoriums at conferences, or classrooms full of students. It is further critical during sales calls. When we attempt to communicate with another person, we use both verbal and nonverbal communications. Nonverbal messages are “messages without words” or “silent messages.”

In their best-selling book, "The Definitive Book of Body Language," researchers Allan and Barbara Pease found that 83 percent of communication is nonverbal communications. Another research indicates that when two people communicate, nonverbal messages convey much more impact than verbal messages. In fact, 93 percent of retained messages are nonverbal communications, according to Gerald L. Manning, Barry L. Reece, and Michael Ahearne in their book, "Selling Today". Words play a surprisingly small part in the communication process. Verbal information is vital, but how we present that information can determine how much an audience remembers. Every spoken message has a vocal element, coming not from what we say but from how we say it.

The most common and essential nonverbal communications that work in various situations, are the following:

1. Entrance and Carriage
2. Shaking Hands
3. Facial Expressions
4. Eye contact
5. Voice
6. Appearance

I have written two interesting blog posts about these six essential nonverbal communications skills. They discuss what those skills are and provide some valuable techniques on how to develop them effectively to convey your messages properly.

1. Nonverbal Communications that Work - Part 1, discusses "Entrance and Carriage," "Shaking Hands," and "Facial Expressions."
2. Nonverbal Communications that Work - Part 2, discusses "Eye Contact," "Voice," and "Appearance."

Check them out by clicking on the links here: Part 1, and Part 2.

All six nonverbal communications are very essential and, when used properly, are very effective to convey the proper messages when we communicate. However, I need to emphasize the following two facts:

1. These two posts are just simple and concise information about nonverbal communications. This is a huge field of knowledge and a lot of work and studies have been conducted to address it. A lot of trainings, as well, are available in the industry that would help people develop their nonverbal communications.
2. To apply nonverbal communications effectively and successfully, you need practice. You need to apply them and learn for your mistakes and those of others. It is not an easy thing to master nonverbal communications. Therefore, you need to keep on learning and practicing.

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