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How the Body Language Contributes to Your Business Success?
Tanya Stoykova, Project Manager and member of our Virtual Assistants’ team, told us a story from her very first job. Every day she communicated with different colleagues – some of them appealed to her, others – not so much without any apparent reasons.
Тanya is a positive person, always smiling and radiating positive energy, however she sometimes felt tension in the presence of different people. They did not exchange even a single negative word, but the body language spoke clearly about the attitude of the other. Sometimes people pronounce some words by their mouth, but their body says other things. Probably most of us have felt this dissonance. So Tanya realized that the knowledge of the body language is essential in business and decided to share with you some important moments.
Everyone, who is good in making business knows that what is said is not as important as how it was said. Even when one does not speak, he still communicates with you, even if you do not realize this. It is important to know the body language, so that you can control it and use it to achieve positive business results.
Here are some main tricks that Tanya learned and used successfully in her business practice and career growth:
Use contact with the eyes of the other person
Only when you are “face to face” with someone else you are able to establish real communication. When somebody is insincere or conceals any information, his eyes meets yours only for about one third of the conversation’s time. In order to establish good relationship with another person your gaze should meet his for about 60 % – 70 % of the conversation time. This will make person start to like you. It is clear that people rarely trust and like nervous and shy persons whose eyes meets theirs for less than one third of the communication time.
The “geographic” area of the person’s face or body to which you direct your eyes is very important. It could influence on the relations and on the negotiation outcomes. All these signs are radiated and received not verbally and are always perfectly interpreted by the receiver.
Imagine that there is a triangle on the forehead of the person you are talking to. When you keep your eyes exactly in this area, you create a business atmosphere and the person unambiguously understands that you are talking seriously. If you gaze does not go down the eyes level of the other person, this will give you possibility to have a control over the situation and the relations.
The handshaking is important
Let’s suppose that you are introduced to somebody and you make the usual handshaking. This gesture shows one of the three major personal attitudes, according to which you set yourself.
For superiority:
„This person tries to take superiority over me. I should be careful with him”.
When shaking hands you can transmit and express a sense of superiority to the other person by turning your hand in way that your palm is facing downward. It is not necessary to point your hand directly to the floor, but it must be downward to the palm of the person you shake hand with. This way you will clearly indicate that at the future meetings you would like to have superiority in relations.
For dependancy:
„I can take superiority over that person. He will act as I want”.
The opposite position of the superiority gesture is when you give your hand with a palm facing upward. This gesture is especially effective when you want to give to other person the control over the relations, and / or to allow him to feel he controls the situation.
For equality:
„I like this person. We get along well with him”.
When both persons shaking hands are powerful, symbolic battle to establish dominance occurs, while each one of them tries to twist the other hand in position of dependence. As a result, balance in shaking appears until the palms of the two people remain in vertical position – they express respect and honor to each other.
The proper body position
If you bend your shoulders or wrap your body with hands crossed in front of your body, you might look defensive or fearful. The shoulders should be kept straight back and arms hanging freely along the body. This open position will make you look relaxed and confident. When you want somebody to co-operate with you use the triangle position. When you want to make a non-verbal pressure – the direct position of your body will help you. Right-angle position allows to the other person to think and act independently, without non-verbal pressure from your side.
Proper distance from the other person
When you talk to somebody make sure that you keep the proper distance from him – neither too far, nor too close. Inclining to other person shows interest in him, but approaching too close into his personal space can make the other person feel nervous and under siege. The big distance will show to the other that you have heard enough and do not want to continue the discussion.
Now, lets go forward into future and successful business career…
These are just some of the tricks Tanya has learned from body language in China. Studying and knowing them helps her have successful business negotiations with partners and clients and turn many negative discussions in positively developed and long-term business relations.
Of course, everyone of us can learn how to practice the right body language at the right moment.
