The Sales Archaeologist

I was reading this article on body language on it got me thinking about the impact of body language on sales.

We make judgments about entertainers   and our sports hero’s based on body language and we do so without knowing it. When it comes to the value of understanding the non- verbal communication that exists out there we are really hoping to use it in two ways: 1) we need to ensure that our prospects and customers are reading us correctly and more importantly not reading us incorrectly and:  2) we want to better understand our prospects and customers. Some companies have invested in educating their entire staff so that they can read the body language of customers

What would happen if your client misread you? What happens if you come across in as dishonest, controlling or manipulative? You will probably lose the sale. Unfortunately many sales people have learned to use manipulative sales techniques  and think nothing of the impact these have on the potential prospects view of us and feeling about us. Ultimately this will have a long term effect on the decisions they make regarding using our services.

One of my most well-read posts was why sales pain is dead!  This focused on the fact that manipulative techniques destroy trust and in the long run will cause you to lose more than you gain in sales. Although not "body language" per se when we execute a strategy that is unethical or not comfortable our body language will change. Try "metaphrasing" for example - a technique where you actually put words in your prospects mouth and twist hard - not a comfortable experience for either party and the sales call suffers.

What about the second point – the fact that we need to observe and learn from the body language of our prospects. What can we learn? Perhaps you are thinking the only way to really use body language effectively would be to take a class and become an expert, that would be fine but not the only way. Most of us are quite capable of reading the basics.

• We can sense tension
• We can feel happiness
• We can tell if they are holding back
• We can recognize it when someone is hearing something they don’t like
• We feel anger or disappointment

When this happens, what do we do then? How do we use this information to improve the quality of our sales meeting?

• “I get the sense you are not really thrilled with what I just said?”
• “Seems like you might be holding back a little?”
• “Maybe I’m wrong but it feels like you are disappointed with that?”

This is the key and something that most sales people don’t do. Ask a question about what you are sensing. What if you are wrong? No problem, just a feeling I had. What if you are right? You tackle the real problem and become more connected to the prospect. At the same time you will be getting prospects to listen to you  which will shorten your cycle and result in more closed opportunities.