How to read customers body language? Have you ever met a complete stranger and instantly clicked? You felt as if you had met previously since there was so much to chat about. It was exactly right. You were so at ease discussing nearly anything that you lost count of time. You had such a close relationship with that guy that you could predict what he would say. Everything between you two just connected, and you felt extremely close to this individual. It may have been a physical attraction or simply a case of being on the same wavelength. This article will give you an overview of how to read customers body language. Keep reading.
You felt like your thoughts were on the same page, and you liked spending time together. This is what we call rapport. When we have a rapport with someone, we might disagree with them yet still feel a connection or link with them. Rapport can occur even amongst persons who have very little in common.
Why understanding body language is importnant?
We are always reading and being read by others, whether we recognize it or not. The language of the body says volumes even when no words are spoken. Body language interpretation is frequently a subconscious process. We may not make a conscious effort to consider all of the reasons why someone has just crossed their arms across their chest and narrowed their gaze at us, yet this body language nonetheless registers and makes us feel uneasy. Even if we have not undertaken a conscious study of the opposing person or their past, the subconscious perceives these acts as resistance, distrust, or spite.
Everything about you, whether obvious or not, communicates something to others. People will accept or reject you and your message based on the words you use, your facial expressions, what you do with your hands, your tone of voice, and your amount of eye contact. To be compelling, you must demonstrate both openness and authority.
For a living, everyone persuades. There’s no avoiding it. Whether you’re a salesperson, an entrepreneur, or a stay-at-home mom, you’ll always be behind if you can’t persuade people to agree with your point of view. Get your free reports from Success Advantage to ensure that you are not left behind on the road to success while others pass you by.
According to Albert Mehrabian, we are viewed in three ways:
1. Visually, 55 percent (body language)
2. Vocally, 38 percent (tone of voice)
3. 7% — expressed verbally (spoken words)
Using body language to its maximum potential includes not just mastering your own outward movements to establish and sustain connection, but also learning to understand the body language of others. You can detect people’s emotions and discomfort if you can interpret their body language well. There is tension and dispute visible. You may sense rejection and mistrust.
You must realize that your body language either enhances or detracts from your message. To put it another way, your subconscious emotions and expressions can aid or hinder your capacity to convince people. Understanding and adopting the appropriate body postures and countenances for your prospect might help you build rapport.
Touch is another significant aspect of body language, so much so that it deserves its own section. Touch may be a very powerful psychological tool. We prefer to be touched subconsciously because it makes us feel valued and liked. However, we must be aware of and cautious of the small fraction of the population who dislikes being touched in any form. Touch, on the other hand, may help individuals relax and be more open to you and your ideas in most cases.
Touch may make the person who is being touched feel good. Immediacy, love, similarity, relaxation, and informality are all positive interpretations of touch. When handing back library cards to university students checking out books, librarians performed one of two things: either they did not touch the individual at all during the exchange or they made light, physical contact by resting a hand over the student’s palm.
Those pupils who were touched during the transaction consistently gave the library a higher rating than those who were not. Waiters and waitresses who touched clients on the arm when inquiring whether everything was well earned higher tips and were rated more highly than those who did not.
How to read customers body language
We all know that certain parts of the body are safe to touch while others are not. Women don’t mind being touched by other women, and they tolerate being touched (properly) by males. Men normally don’t mind being touched by a stranger, but it’s more difficult to anticipate when guys are touching other men. Men, in general, dislike being touched by strangers. Shoulders, forearms, and hands, as well as the upper back, are all safe places of touch. Before the contact, everything relies on the context and relationship between the two people.
Customers are also influenced by touch to spend more time shopping in a specific business. Customers were motivated to spend more and rate the shop more highly in one research when salespeople made physical contact with them.
Touch was also found to boost the number of persons who volunteered to score papers, sign petitions, and return money left in a phone booth in another study.
Hornick discovered that touching consumers on the arm made them shop longer (22.11 minutes compared to 13.56 minutes), buy more ($15.03 versus $12.23), and had a more favorable opinion of the store than those who were not touched. Hornick also discovered that customers who were touched in the supermarket were more likely to taste and purchase food samples than customers who were not touched.
1. Adapt your speech and body language to that of the other person.
When communicating with others, highly powerful people mimic their body language, keywords, acronyms, tone of voice, and hand gestures. They can reflect in a natural, inconspicuous way with the help of this approach, swiftly developing remarkable rapport with little effort. This unusual relationship develops instinctively in the prospect’s old brain.
2. Discover the many signals that a buyer’s body will send.
- Ready to Make a Sale? Green Light:
A buyer’s hands are at ease and their palms are open when they are interested. They elevate both brows while maintaining clear eye contact. Of course, the purchaser will nod and smile constantly, and they won’t have their arms crossed.
- Red Light: Not Ready
Hands in pockets, fidgeting, or placing a hand on the back of the neck are signs that a buyer is not prepared to complete the transaction. Their arms are tight or crossed, and they avoid making eye contact. They can also keep a good distance between you and begin tapping their foot.
3. Determine the buyer’s shift: The dialogue and the buyer’s body language together let you know when they are prepared.
The most important rule of all is the capacity to determine when a customer is ready to make a purchase. When a customer shifts their perspective and chooses to use your product or service, you need to be on the lookout for it. While there will be some verbal cues (the dialogue), the change is primarily conveyed by non-verbal cues. If you look and listen closely, you will frequently find that several buyer’s shift signals are happening at once. Always trust the buyer’s body language if there is a discrepancy between what they are saying and the messages they are sending you via it.
The following are a few “buyer’s shift” signals:
The following are a few “buyer’s shift” signals:
- If they are seated, they may rub their hands together or place them on their legs as if they were about to stand.
- approaching you and touching their chin or beard
- animated responses to your ideas and materials
- pupils’ expanding width
- One head turned to the side
In industrialized nations, closing is the salesperson’s weakest area of expertise. It’s true:
- Men make up two-thirds of salesmen in affluent nations.
- Men do not instinctively interpret body language as women do.
- Only 10% of male salesmen have received enough sales training to understand body language as effectively as women.
Male salespeople can see from the conversation that they are getting close to the sale, but because they have trouble reading body language, they are unsure if the customer is ready to close or not. They are confident that if they try to complete the sale too soon, the buyer will become disinterested, and the contract would be lost. As a result, they pose weak questions and employ flimsy verbs like “feel,” “think,” “maybe,” and “maybe.” They dodge the issue in the hope that the customer would shut themselves, but 90% of purchasers won’t. To read the shift and close the deal, use your body language.
4. It’s best when they keep quiet. Understand when to stop talking.
Your personal body language should always be sending the “green” signal when you are selling, especially during the closing phase. It’s inappropriate, for instance, to sit with your arms crossed in front of your chest. The customer may become discouraged as a result of that body language’s unfavorable messages.
You must remain silent until the customer reacts after you request their business. Your body must be motionless. Any movement or fidgeting might annoy the customer. My own opinion is that it’s better to simply relax, smile, and wait.
The majority of the time, purchasers are not using silence as a bargaining tactic. Simply said, they are thinking, digesting, analyzing, and/or comparing. They could be contrasting your offer with those made by others. They could be debating whether or not to proceed with the transaction.
Customers can be considering a wide range of ideas. Additionally, if you distract them while they’re thinking, they stop thinking. Additionally, you will come out as unpleasant if you interrupt a customer when they are thinking. Now, the likelihood of making the deal is essentially zero.
These few adjustments may transform you from a poor agent to one that regularly closes deals and develops stronger connections with clients. Use the chances you’ll discover in unsaid words instead of relying on calls and emails.
Take away
Persuasion is the missing piece of the jigsaw that will help you grow your income, enhance your relationships, get what you want when you want it, and make lifelong friends. Consider how much money and revenue you’ve lost as a result of your failure to convince and influence others. Consider this. Sure, you’ve had some success, but consider how many times you’ve failed. Have you ever felt that you didn’t get your message across?
Were you unable to persuade someone to take action? Have you realized all of your potential? Are you able to inspire yourself and others to work harder and achieve their objectives? What about your personal life? Imagine being able to anticipate and overcome obstacles, knowing what your prospect is thinking and feeling, and feeling more confident in your ability to convince.
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