Speaking Silently

Reading and understanding body language is the key to success for any salesperson.

That’s why body language is so important in the world of sales. Many customers are reluctant to verbally communicate their intentions during a sales presentation, leaving it up to the seller to figure out what their client might be thinking.

Sales experts who study body language say that when making a sales presentation, you must consider a number of variables along with the unspoken gestures made by the prospect.

In a sales setting, body language must be “taken in the context of the situation and prior relationship you have with the person, as well as the person’s behavioral style,” says Tim Connor, president of Connor Resource Group in Davidson, N.C., best-selling author, speaker and trainer in the sales management field.

The salesperson who can read these signals most accurately will have the best results. “The average [salesperson] pays more attention to verbal messages,” Connor says. “But the reason nonverbal communication is more accurate is because they are unconscious acts. [A salesperson has] to interpret, react and respond accordingly.”

Four simple strategies
There are approximately 250,000 to 300,000 ways to communicate nonverbally, according to Connor. It’s impossible to know how to react to every one of them. But he does offer help to salespeople. To deal with this silent bombardment of enigmatic information, Connor suggests four simple strategies:

1. Figure out if the signals the subject is giving are “open” or “closed.” For example, eye contact is an open signal, as is leaning forward. Conversely, leaning away would be considered a closed signal, as well as folded arms. “These are basically anything [the subject] does that closes them off or opens them up to you,” Connor says.

2. Salespeople should not take the aforementioned signals individually, but as a group. “[A customer] folding his arms might just mean they are cold,” Connor explains. “It might not be that they don’t trust you.” When interpreting open and closed signals, one must take into account things such as body position, posture, gestures, tone and pace.

3. Pay attention to the red, yellow and green signals. As Connor explains it, yellow is considered mixed signals — a combination of the aforementioned open and closed signals. “If a person is leaning toward me with his arms folded, that’s a yellow signal,” Connor says. “Or if his arms are folded, but he’s smiling — that’s a yellow signal.” Connor says when it comes to yellow signals, the salesperson should slow the presentation down, probe and uncover what is contributing to the negative signs.

Red signals are all closed signs. If you are receiving red signals, “stop [the presentation] because you have said something that has great resistance,” says Connor. “Find out what is contributing to those reactions.” Green, of course, means all go signals. “Just keep doing what you are doing,” he says.

4. Pay attention to the direction in which the signals are heading. “They don’t go from all open to all closed just like that,” Connor explains. “It’s a gradual process.” The reason to stay aware of the direction of the signals, Connor explains, is to “catch them in the yellow stage before they all go red.”

Experts say it’s important for salespeople to grasp as many signs and signals as possible quickly, interpret them and change their sales tactics accordingly.

“Everyone comes to the sales process with some prejudices,” says Connor. “So, you have to pay attention to body language. If that person has a chip on their shoulder, you need to know about it before you go in.”

MORE INFORMATION
A glossary of body language
Salespeople can't interpret body language if they can't recognize it when they see it.

Watch your own body language
Customers aren't the only ones who convey information through their body language.

Playing the zone
Distance plays a great role in the interpretation of body language.