The Power of Positive Body Language In Sales

We are all in sales, whether by choice or chance. However it’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell it.

People are now spending about 40% of their time at work engaged in NON-SALES SELLING - persuading, influencing and convincing others in ways that involve anyone making a purchase. Across a range of professions, we are devoting roughly 24 minutes of every hour to moving others to act.

Think about it for a second – have you ever wondered why some people are more successful at selling the same product or service than others? Look inside your sales team and I can guarantee you?that you’ll have a few people constantly smashing targets and bringing new sales leads effortlessly and the rest of the team just about doing ok even though they've all had the same training and access to the same resources. What makes such a difference?

All?successful leaders and sales executives?I know have one thing in common – they know how to build rapport with clients and connect on a deeper level and use it as their secret weapon.

Rapport is power?– always remember this. I can’t stress enough how important it is to invest time and effort into honing this skill especially if you work in sales or customer facing environment.

Ability to build rapport is what sets you apart from being average to being a superstar. Rapport is an essential foundation block of all human interactions, be in?professionally or socially.

Communication is simply the art of transferring information, however how good you can exchange information defines how effective your communication skills are. It takes us just one-tenth of a second to judge someone and make a first impression so make it count. When we judge others we generally look at two characteristics:

• Warmth – whether the other person is friendly and well intentioned
• Strengths or competence – whether they can act on their intentions

Warmth is the conduit of influence.?It facilitates trusts and the communication and the absorption of ideas. Warm is key when you are building rapport.

Rapport means total responsiveness between people, total sync-up. It is created by a feeling of commonality that can only be achieved once rapport is established. We like people who are either like us, or who are like how we’d like to be.

As you know, 93% of our messages are delivered non-verbally through our body language.

You have much less conscious control over your non-verbal messages than of what you are actually saying. Non-verbal communication is much more emotional in nature and therefore more instinctive.

Body language is an unconscious representations and expressions of our thoughts and moods. Always be aware and be on a lookout for mismatch between verbal and non-verbal messages your client might be displaying or yourself.

Here are 15 top tips that will help you improve your body language:

• Smile – There are 2 types of smiles. Duchenne and 'cabin crew'. Duchenne smile is a genuine one and cabin crew is when you are paid to smile. We smile with our eyes. When the smile is genuine, both corners of the mouth and cheeks are raised and this creates crow’s feet in the corners of the eyes. When you smile on the phone the other person could hear it as your tone softens up, when you smile in person it facilitates trust, communication and absorption of ideas. It also feels good to smile because when we do, our brain releases endorphins one of the 4 hormones of happiness
• Don’t fidget – as a rule it’s a sign of anxiety or boredom
• Walk with the purpose and energy – people can read confidence on you face before you even say a word so do practice the power walk
• Maintain eye contact – glaze not stare, no eye darts
• Keep your hands visible – I’d strongly advise against keeping your hands in your pockets during the conversation too. Be mindful of crossing your arms especially if your legs are crossed too as it can be read as ‘I am closed for a conversation aka not interested’ body language
• Use authoritative posture and presence – i.e. sit up straight, don’t slouch, don't be afraid to take space
• Work on your handshake – full palm to palm contact and avoid ‘dead fish’
• Slow down and breath – use 7/11 breathing technique (breath in on a count of 7, breath out on a count of 11) or boxed breathing
• Avoid common distracting mannerisms – i.e. tapping, scratching, touching your hair, clicking your pen, finger-pointing, fidgeting with the jewellery, etc
• Mind your facial expressions, especially the crazy eyebrows look
• Use engaged body language - i.e. open palm if you need to address someone or make a point
• Dress for confidence?– when you look good, you feel good. Style matters more initially than substance, let's be honest here. Show them through your style that you mean business
• Respect other’s proximity – don’t invade their private space
• Match and mirror – use mirroring wisely and only when it feels authentic to you. Did you know that breathing is the easiest thing you can mirror?

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not what you sell but how you sell it. Never underestimate the power of rapport and positive body language and what it can do to your bottom line and personal brand. Rapport is power. Nurture it, amplify it and build it into your sales pitch DNA.

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