Sales Training Adelaide

The purpose of this section is to give people a better idea of their non-verbal clues and signals to find out how people communicate with body language. Body language has only been studied scientifically since the 1960s and most people are ignorant of its existence, let alone the importance it has in their lives.

Communication through body language has been going on for millions of years. Scientists have been studying body language frame-by-frame for 30 years, evaluating people.

It is now proven by behavioural scientists that:

4 7% of meaning is expressed with words,

5 38% with your voice,

6 and a staggering 55% through the non-verbal channel.

Research shows that non-verbal clues carry five times the real meaning and feeling than mere words do. Therefore elite sales people will rely on body language to see where the client is and keep one step ahead.

The non-verbal is for interpreting attitudes and feelings, hence its huge importance in the sales environment. Humans are a species of ape. Sales speakers and trainers Adelaide are primates; we are the hairless ape with an advanced brain, and our greatest achievement is our ability to verbally communicate with one another.

When a baby has had enough milk it turns its head, and when infants don’t want any more spoon-feeding they turn their head from side-to-side. We learn early in life that the turning of the head says ‘no’ and what is the opposite of moving your head from side-to-side? Up and down, this means ‘yes’. We can make serious mistakes by interpreting a solitary gesture in isolation. Like other language, body language consists of words and sentences.

Words form sentences to mean something and a gesture put with other gestures forms a cluster. The elite sales person will read the non-verbal sentences or gesture clusters and work out what they mean in accordance with what the person is saying. Observation of gesture clusters and working out the difference between the verbal and the non-verbal, are one of the keys to having the elite conversion rate.

Body Language Gestures

An example of these more obvious gestures can be seen when a young child wants to block out a reprimand from a parent. They can be seen to put their hands over both ears and shaking their head from side-to-side in order to block the words. Thirdly, the face twitches when we tell a lie and a hand on the face hides the microscopic twitching. We can feel it but others can’t see it. That’s one of the reasons why lie detector tests work … it can feel physical changes.

When a young child tells a lie the hands come to the face, they will tend to lose eye contact, their mouth might open and the shoulders shrug, indicating a lie has been told. As the child gets older they realise that these gestures give the game away so they again become less obvious. They might rub their lips and again loose eye contact while they are lying.

As we get older we learn to be less obvious in our gestures. Instead of running behind something or having the arms and ankles folded, chin down and shaking from side-to-side we tend to just fold our arms and have our chin sightly down. Instead of putting both hands over our ears when we don’t want to hear something, adults rub one ear, pull the earlobe or put a finger in the ear.

Thirdly, instead of doing the gestures of a child lying, the adult’s brain often instructs their hand to cover their face, but in an attempt to block the deceitful behaviour, at the last moment the hand is pulled away from the face and a nose touch or rub results – they might rub their eye, look down, put their chin down and finish it of with a false cough.

Read your body gestures

Each gesture in the gesture cluster or non-verbal sentence indicates a lie, but put together you can be reassured that is the case. The adult is more sophisticated in their body language gestures and not obvious to the untrained eye. Subconsciously we can read body language. Sales speakers and trainers Adelaide have heard it said that “I just don’t trust that person”. Women’s intuition is subconsciously reading body language. The way to do it is to make a conscious effort to read the body gestures of clients and also your own body gestures. The benefits to you of reading body language are great.

You will know when a prospect, friend, family member or even car salesman is lying to you or telling you the truth. You will realise when someone is defensive or is attracted to you. You will be able to read negative or aggressive behaviour before a verbal or even physical attack.

Read your body gestures will give you an indication of how you’re really feeling and also how to be seated in an interview, how to stand in a speech and what gestures and tone to use to become more likable or to impress people to indicate intelligence, understanding and diplomacy.

Face Twitches

The face twitches when we tell a lie and a hand on the face hides the twitching. That’s why lie detector tests work – they can feel the twitching. When a child tells a lie the hands come to the face and the eyes might wander from side-to-side. When a teenager tells a lie they might just rub their lips lightly. The adult is more sophisticated when they tell a lie.

Their brain instructs their hand to cover their face, but in an attempt to block the deceitful behaviour, at the last moment the hand is pulled away from the face and a nose touch or rub results. As sales professionals we can learn body language very, very quickly because we are always putting people under pressure, asking them to spend money and leading them towards a close.

Reading your own body gestures will give you an indication of how you’re really feeling and this can be done at any moment, in less than half a second and your body gestures are usually right.