TOOLS OF INFLUENCE: Winning Without Words

Mastering Body Language for Sales Success

ISSUE: #003

As we dive deeper into the vast chasms of #ToolsOfInfluence , we certainly can't overlook the role that body language plays in influencing others. While this is a very broad topic to cover, for this week’s article, we'll be focusing on the role body language can play in influencing others within typical sales environments. Whether on a Zoom, in a meeting room, or standing in front of an auditorium, our body language plays a critical role in how our messages are perceived. This is due to the fact that most buying decisions are based largely on; emotion.

A study by Gartner indicated that

“While business value is essential, it is often the emotional connection that seals the deal, highlighting that business customers frequently rely on emotional inputs over pure business value assessments"-Turtl

While our analytical brain certainly plays a key role in the initial sorting process, like whether or not a service matches our price, timing, and solution needs, in the end our prospect's final buying decision will be most heavily influenced by non-tangible emotional cues. Our body language helps complete our buyer’s 'total picture' analysis of our solution and whether to buy from us or not.

Our ability to interpret and leverage non-verbal cues is a vital, yet often undervalued weapon in our sales war chest. In this week's issue of #ToolsOfInfluence we'll attempt to scratch the surface of this extremely deep topic of body language, offering practical insights and techniques to elevate our sales interactions and hopefully… close more deals.

Body language serves as a bridge between the spoken and the unspoken, transforming subtle gestures and expressions into powerful communicative tools. In the world of sales, where emotional responses can mean the difference between a signed contract and a missed opportunity, understanding this bridge (between spoken and unspoken) is essential.

Neurological Link: The connection between visual cues and emotional responses is deeply rooted in neuroscience. The human brain is wired to interpret facial expressions, posture, and gestures, triggering emotional reactions that influence our decisions. The "7-38-55 Rule," proposed by Dr. Albert Mehrabian, emphasizes how non-verbal communication, particularly visual cues, accounts for 55% of our communication, guiding how we feel and, subsequently, how we decide. The rule states that 7% of meaning is communicated through spoken word, 38% through tone of voice, and 55% through body language. It was developed by psychology professor Albert Mehrabian at the University of California, Los Angeles, who laid out the concept in his 1971 book?Silent Messages?(1971).

Trust and Rapport:?Further research from the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior shows that non-verbal cues significantly impact levels of trust and rapport in professional relationships. In sales, where establishing credibility is key, these cues can either reinforce or undermine the spoken word. As Dr. Paul Ekman, a renowned psychologist in the field of emotions and communication, notes, "Non-verbal cues are the key to unlocking emotional responses." This includes not only our body language, but our visual appearance, visual aids, environment and what message that 'entire package' is sending.

A study from the Journal of Business Psychology highlights that 65% of communication in business meetings is non-verbal, emphasizing its role in shaping professional interactions. This data underscores the necessity for sales executives to cultivate an understanding of body language to influence emotional decision-making effectively.

While research and data is great at telling us what we should focus on, applying it is another story. Again, we are only scratching the surface of this deeply studied field. For simplicity (and time) sake, we’ll split this complex field into the two most commonly encountered situations in sales which are the LIVE (in person) presentation versus VIDEO (Zoom/Teams) presentation.

Whether we are presenting live on a stage in front of hundreds people, or in a conference room with just a few key prospects, presenting live can feel a bit like stepping into a gladiatorial arena, where every gesture, posture, and expression feels (and likely is) heavily scrutinized. For sales and marketing executives in particular, these presentations are crucial, not just for conveying information, but for establishing authority and engaging positively with our potential buying-audience. Body language, when harnessed effectively, can become a powerful ally or enemy in this arena, reinforcing our message and captivating our audience, or driving their attention down at their smart phones instead of us.

Posture and Presence: The way a speaker stands, moves, and uses hand gestures can either project confidence, authority, and composure, or insecurity, impotence, and discomfort. Here's a few key things to remember at your next live in-person presentation.

• Enter with purpose and be prepared: Walk with purpose to your speaking destination, take a moment to look a few audience members directly in the eye and greet them, be warm and appreciative of their time, but above all… BE PREPARED. If you begin your presentation attempting to find your starting point or fumble with papers or presentation tools, or convey to the audience that you aren't quite sure where to begin, this will be the tone you set for the rest of your presentation. Project confidence, ease and comfort with your surroundings and materials so that your audience will feel they are in good hands.
• Stand Tall: A straight posture, with shoulders back and chin up, conveys strength and self-assurance. This stance projects confidence to the audience, making them more receptive to your message.
• Avoid Nervous Tics: Shifting weight from one foot to the other or slouching can project nervousness, undermining a speaker’s authority. You don't need to stand still, in fact some purposeful movement can help deliver impact to key moments of your presentation. However, focus on avoiding anything distracting (like tapping your waist, or fidgeting, or shifting your weight from one leg to another repeatedly). Also, resist touching your face or hair as it can be perceived as a sign of nervousness or lack of confidence in your message.
• Ditch the podium if at all possible: In a live setting, people need to see your whole body in order to trust you and therefore trust what you are saying. Remove barriers that keep you 'fixed' and appearing 'closed-off'. A visual barrier can also undermine your apparent confidence and/or authority on the subject matter. Leave the podiums for commencement speeches or teaching a college course.
• Keep your head on straight: In a normal conversation, tilting your head might signify curiosity and attentiveness. However, on a live stage this can often signal submission, for example if opening the floor up to questions you might use a head tilt when listening to an audience member to signify you are listening with curiosity and submitting yourself to their opinion.

Use hand gestures with purpose: As with anything, a little goes a long way and over-use of hand gestures can come off as frantic or disingenuous. We will likely write an entire issue of #toolsofinfluence around the topic of hand gestures as the study is absolutely fascinating.

All of this may seem like a lot to try to incorporate together in a well choreographed live presentation, while still attempting to make it through the actual content of your presentation. However, as with anything practice makes perfect. Filming yourself rehearsing your pitch and analyzing the video is a great way to identify and lean-into desired body language, while eliminating distracting behaviors. Also doing some form of scripting of your presentation will allow you to insert key body language at critical points of your presentation which will ensure a higher quality presentation overall. Rehearse, assess, improve, repeat.

However, live presentations have become somewhat of a rarity in today's business landscape. Next we'll discuss the most ubiquitous of sales environments today.. the digital presentation.

In today's digital age, the landscape of sales has shifted heavily to favor virtual meetings and video calls, challenging sales executives to adapt their non-verbal communication skills to the ‘small screen’. Despite the limitations of the ‘digital pitch’,, body language can still play a key role in guiding emotional decision-making and closing more deals.

Adapting to Virtual Meetings: The move to digital sales, particularly post-Covid, presents unique challenges as I discovered for myself when I launched my own remote creative services agency back in 2019 (pre-Covid). During my initial 'virtual presentations', I began to notice how my environment, clothing, posture and facial expressions were magnified on the screen, which I started to realize would likely influence that client’s perception and confidence in my services. This realization lead me to research and adjust my body language strategies, focusing on maximizing the impact of subtle gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact to maintain better engagement. I also re-approached my live materials to avoid too many static “talking head” moments, and utilize pacing to maintain my audience's attention. Not to mention, a quick re-evaluation and remodel of my office space and even my day-to-day work clothing styles. This adaptation process was a huge shift away from my 15+ years of selling live in-person. Treating them as the same, is a massive misstep not to mention a huge missed opportunity.

In digital sales, we are somewhat limited in our body language options. We are enclosed in a tiny screen (from our prospect's perspective) typically sitting with only half our body showing. It makes sense, can you imagine if you hopped on a Zoom call to find someone standing in full-frame, pacing around as they spoke to you (Weird right?). To address these limitations, I made a conscious effort to include my hands more often within conversations, using open hand movements, maintaining a balanced posture and ensuring my expressions conveyed enthusiasm, confidence, and attentiveness to my client's words.

Maintaining Eye Contact: In virtual sales interactions, maintaining eye contact can appear particularly challenging. However, a Stanford study shows that non-verbal cues are more crucial than ever, with 50% of respondents relying heavily on visual communication in virtual meetings. To maintain eye contact, I learned to look directly into the camera, projecting confidence and engagement, and signaling to the client that I was fully present. Sometimes we can inadvertently make our audience feel like we aren’t paying attention to them if our eyes are busy darting all over our screen, or away from the camera.

A Harvard Business Review study found that salespeople who maintain consistent eye contact throughout a meeting are 32% more likely to close deals. Maintaining eye contact not only signals confidence but also invites the client into a shared space, where mutual understanding and trust can flourish.

Maintaining your eye-line to the camera for digital video meetings can be challenging. Here's a few tricks I've picked up.

• Buy a separate web camera and a mini tripod: Using built-in laptop or desktop camera where the camera's point of view is ‘stuck’ to the top of the laptop or desktop screen can create an odd eye-line because our human intuition craves to look at ourselves and others if presented the opportunity (not at a little black dot). A simple little web cam with a mini tripod allows you to place the camera EXACTLY where you want your eye line to be, which includes right in front of our audience, where we naturally want to look anyway.
• Reduce the size of the video chat app window: As part of getting your eye-line right, if you have that video app window set to fullscreen, you'll be more focused on looking at the different locations of the screen than you will be at maintaining a consistent eye contact with your audience. I typically reduce the size of my Zoom app window to just the bare minimum it needs to be, often moving it down to the bottom left corner of my screen where I then place my web camera and tripod. I try to place the lens of the camera as close to center of that app’s window (in front of my computer monitor) as I can so that when I'm looking at anyone in the meeting, my eyeline appears to be straight to camera. That way, even if there are multiple participants and I feel the need to look at them, my eye-line won't stray very far from the center where that all important camera lens is (versus full-screen size where your eyes look like they are darting all over the place). My guests get the sense I'm always looking them right in the eye, even if I'm giving everyone my my equal undivided attention.
• Eliminate the self-view: Of course it's always wise to do a quick self-view test to make sure you're framed right, your eye line is appropriate, that hair looks fantastic, and your background is what you intend it to be. That said, once you've done your 'self-check', TURN THAT SELF-PREVIEW WINDOW OFF. Your guests will still see you, however it's human nature to focus your attention towards one's self if presented the opportunity to do so. Instead, remove that 'mirror' from the equation so you can focus ALL of your attention on your guests. Think about it, would you have a mirror in front of you in an in-person live presentation? Would you be able to ignore it if you did?

Don’t forget to READ body language too!

We often become so laser-focused on our sales pitch heading into a meeting, that we may miss reading critical visual cues our own prospects are conveying to us. These cues often provide us with an opportunity to adjust our approach in real-time.

During my old-days in TV Development, we were pitching a particular non-scripted show idea to some key executives at the Discovery Channel. The lead executive greeted us with a wide-faced smile, some kind words, and a firm handshake. However, as he turned to lead us to the conference room I noticed for a brief second, his facial expression dropped from a wide smile to a focused scowl. As he lead us to the conference room and continued to discuss typical niceties of the day, he never once turned around to look at us while talking, even glancing at his phone multiple times while mid-conversation. Once we arrived at the conference room, he politely asked us to take a seat and showed us where we could plug in our computers to begin our presentation. The presentation went on as normal, we concluded and said our goodbyes. Later, we would come to find that a similar competing show format had already been green-lit, just days before our meeting. Our network exec just kept the meeting on the books out of respect, but it was essentially a courtesy meeting.

Had I been less focused on my presentation, I could have used the opportunity to quickly 'elevator-pitch' other ideas or used some of the time to ask questions and gain valuable insights into their network's actual current programming needs.

As sellers, reading body language can play a vital role in our adjusting our sales approach, so its important not to focus so much on our own presentatation, that we miss an opportunity to pivot towards our audience, instead of unknowingly pitching away.

To wrap things up:

As we draw the curtain on this mini-exploration of non-verbal communication, I hope some of the information you've read might be valuable and perhaps applicable to your own situation. We’ve delved into some of the science behind body language, uncovering how visual cues are neurologically linked to emotional responses and can shape trust and rapport in professional relationships. We navigated the both the live and digital approaches to body language, and discussed how to not only deploy non-verbal cues effectively, but to also be mindful of reading them as well. This can be a life-long journey to master, but with practice, we can all improve little by little. Not only do these principles help with our success in business, they are also helpful to understand in our everyday social lives.

For sales and marketing professionals, mastering non-verbal communication is essential. I encourage readers to observe and practice these techniques and even explore books on the subject of recognizing how body language can transform everyday interactions. Next time you’re in a meeting, take a moment to notice the unspoken language at play on both sides of the pitch, it may just change the way you approach your next pitch!

CITATIONS:

1. Dr. Albert Mehrabian's "7-38-55 Rule" - This rule illustrates the weight of non-verbal communication in conveying feelings, showing that 55% of communication is visual.
2. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - A research article from this journal emphasizes the role of non-verbal communication in building trust and rapport.
3. Dr. Paul Ekman - A quote from Dr. Paul Ekman, a renowned psychologist in the field of emotions and communication: "Non-verbal cues are the key to unlocking emotional responses."
4. Journal of Business Psychology - A study from this journal highlights that 65% of communication in business meetings is non-verbal, emphasizing its significance in professional interactions.
5. Vanessa Van Edwards - A quote from Vanessa Van Edwards, author of "Captivate": "Rapport is built in the silent spaces between words."
6. Harvard Business Review - A study from HBR shows that salespeople who mirror their clients' body language close 32% more deals.
7. Amy Cuddy - A quote from Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist and author: "Even through a screen, body language can be a powerful connector."
8. Stanford Study - A study from Stanford University highlights that 50% of respondents rely heavily on visual communication in virtual meetings.