Selling & Negotiation Skills_4

Body Language
• Actions speak louder than words.
• Close 90% of the message is transmitted non verbally.
• Face to face communication is more effective than telephone conversation.
• One should learn the body language, in order to know that when it is in conflict with the spoken words, body language is always the portrayal of the truth.
• Everybody has his own personal space and others invade it at their peril.
• Intruding on another’s personal zone may cause such physiological changes to take place within the body that he will become agitated and want to move to a safer distance, even though he may smile and pretend to enjoy it.
• Intimate distance (up to 50 cm): People guard this distances as if it were their own personal property. The close intimate distance (up to 15 cm) indicates people who are allowed to touch, such as marriage partners, lovers or children. The far intimate distance (15-50 cm) is reserved for close friends.
• Close personal Zone (0.5-1.25m): this is the distance at which we stand from others at a party, social events and friendly gathering.
• Social Zone (1.25-3.5m): This is the distance one allows when communication is inevitable with strangers such as washing machine repair man or a new collegue at work. A close social zone (1.25m) should be observed when discussing business with the receptionist.
• Public Zone: Reserved for addressing large group of people, at a social function or lecture.

Body Contact
• It is perfectly acceptable for a manager to clap a subordinate on the back after a job well done.
• A sales person would need to have a good relationship with a customer because to do so would mean invading his personal space.
• Putting your arm around a customer's shoulder may communicate a closeness perceived by a sales person but rejected by a customer.
• When people shake hands many things are communicated, the weak hand shake suggest a weak character and the other person may feel that he can dominate you.
• While the “Bonecrusher” may imply that you wish to dominate or seeking to impress.
• Excessive strong and shakes, regrettably doesn’t communicate the image of a helpful sales person.
• Handshake should be warm and strong without being “wet fish” or knuckle grinding”

Hand to face gestures
• Any spontaneous movement of the hand to face is an indication that the person is uncomfortable and probably lying.
• A child who doesn’t want to hear that its time for him to go to bed will cover his ears.
• If there is something frightening show on TV a person will cover his eyes with his arms.
• If she tells a lie her hands will immediately go to her mouth in an attempt to conceal the untruthful words.
• If, when you ask a customer ‘what are my chances of getting the order? The reply (I’d say they are pretty good) is accompanied by pulling the collar, scratching the neck, rubbing the ear or the eye, pretending to scratching the nose or covering the mouth the implication is that the person is LYING.

Arm folding
• A husband arrives late at home for dinner (again). His wife standing in kitchen with her hands folded-Indicating that the row is brewing.
• If people have negative thoughts about you or your product they may fold their arms as ‘shield’ against your unfavourable message.
• If the folded arm is accompanied by clenched fists it suggest that the person may explode any moment.
• When the listener folds his arms not only he is paying less attention but he is likely to have more comments about the speaker.

Eye contact
• You may force your self to look at person’s face while talking, thereby pretending to have interest you don’t feel, but you consciously cannot control the size of your eye pupils.
• The pupil will change size with the interest the individual feels e.g. if a man is looking at a women and feels attracted to her his pupils will dilate, women reacts the same way to men.
• If a customer is offered an interesting proposal his eye pupils automatically enlarge.
• It may happen that the buyer expresses the shock verbally on hearing the price, only to be betrayed by lack of pupil reaction.
• As people’s mood changes from positive to negative the eye pupil will contract or dilate accordingly.
• When we are listening, our eye contact is as high as 100%, but when we are talking our eye contact can be as low as Zero.

Facial Expression
• A sales person however, should read the facial expression in relation to other body movements which are much more reliable indicator of real feelings because they are more difficult to control.