We are in the communication business. And yet, so many times we fail to communicate. We are not clear with our co-workers, our prospects, our clients. I don't need to remind you how many problems failing to clearly communicate can cause.

Much of what we communicate to other people is not what we SAY. Albert Mehrabian, who was a research pioneer in body language, found that the total impact of a message is about 7% verbal (words only), 38% vocal (tone, inflection) and 55% nonverbal. Our bodies can tell a completely different story than do our words.

Ray Birdwhistell studied non-verbal communication and noted that the average person actually speaks words for a total of about 10 or 11 minutes a day. The average sentence takes only about 2.5 seconds. He also estimated that we can make and recognize around 250,000 facial expressions.

Research by Allan Pease shows that, in business encounters, body language accounts for between 60 and 80% of the impact we make around a negotiating table. Also, people form 60 to 80% of their initial opinion about a new person in less than 4 minutes. In fact, the University of Toledo did a study about first impressions. The brought in a group of interviewers to do 20 minute interviews with a group of interviewees. Then they were asked to rank the interviewees on several criteria. They had recorded the 20 minute interviews. Next they brought in a new group of interviewers and showed them the first 20 seconds of those 20 minute interviews. When asked to rate the interviewees (same criteria as before) the ratings were almost identical! People begin to form opinions of us the minute they lay eyes on us. Making a good first impression can mean the difference between getting an appointment or not.

Learning to read other people's body language can be crucial to our success as salespeople and managers. And, learning to control our own can be just as critical. It's not just what we say, it's how we say it and how we look when we're saying it.

Dress professionally. Enter a room professionally and with confidence. And understand that by the time you speak, you have already communicated most of what the other person will hear!

Happy Selling!

"Pat has written a sales book that is not only for all times, it is especially good for THESE times-times of disruption, times of change. The final chapters of her book are no less grounded in practicality and real-world experience, but they offer invaluable insights into, as one of her chapters would have it, 'doing business in an AI world.' Buy the book. Make the commitment. Thank me later."

           Jay Mitchell

Editor

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