Karinch Maryann - Body language sales secrets: how to read prospects and decode subconscious signals to get results and close the deal

Wayne, NJ

Copyright 2018 by Jim McCormick and Maryann Karinch

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

BODY LANGUAGE SALES SECRETS

Edited by Jodie Brandon
Typeset by Diana Ghazzawi
Cover design by Howard Grossman/12E Design
Printed in the U.S.A.

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To all the sales professionals who use their expertise and professionalism to serve their customers and clients.

First and foremost, we want to thank Gregory Hartley, whose knowledge about reading and using body language has been invaluable to us. You have served us as a mentor and a muse! Big thanks also to Jim Pyle, the guru of good questioning.

We want to offer sincere acknowledgment to the extraordinary sales professionals with whom weve had the privilege of working through the years. We value what we learned from you and appreciate your ability to sincerely serve your customers and clients.

As with any book about body language, we feel it only right to acknowledge the body of work of Paul Ekman; he has taught everyone in the field a great deal about understanding the connection between facial expressions and the truth of their feelings.

Two important colleagues also deserve special thanks for contributing to our evolution as professionals: Pete Pannes and Michael Carroll.

We also offer our deepest gratitude to the entire Career Press team: Ron Fry, Michael Pye, Adam Schwartz, Gina Schenck, Lauren Manoy, Laurie Kelly-Pye, Karen Roy, and Jeff Piasky.

Yes.

In a sale, its what you want to hearand seeagain and again. In this first section of the book, we familiarize you with key body language signals. You will know if you are headed toward yes or no. You will also get a keen idea of when you are facing indecision or deferral.

What can you do to improve your chances of seeing yes? How can you turn around a situation that seems bleak? For one thing, you can ask good questions. We explore what constitutes a good question as well as other conversation motivators.

As your prospect shares information, your listening skills help reinforce the rapport developing between you. With rapport comes the opportunity to build trust. You may encounter other responses along the way, though. Getting in the way of stronger rapport and trust could be disapproval, suspicion, confusion, distraction, embarrassment, or condescension. Moving you forward could be delight, comfort, hope, safety, certainty, and desire. You benefit from being able to spot all of them and know how to manage them.

Body language is more than expressions and movements, of course. Non-verbal communication encompasses vocal characteristics as well as utterances that are not words. It also includes how you present yourself and items that figures into your gesturing like a phone, a pen, or a rubber band.

Body language sales secrets are about both you and your prospect. You need to read other people at the same time that you maintain self-awareness. People are looking at you, too, and you want to project the attitude, demeanor, and emotions that are right for the moment.

Whatever you are sellingproducts, services, or ideasas long as you come face to face with people, you will find valuable guidance and insights in the upcoming pages.

This is a handbook to help you read and use body language with intention. When you can do that, you will be better at selling than you currently areeven if youre already very effective! Your aim is to develop competence in knowing why people (including you) make certain moves and how the meaning of those actions affects your sales process. Thats your key to knowing if you are moving closer or further away from the close.

The only reason to read this book is because you want to improve in sales, so we are making an assumption: that you want to engage in some kind of selling and will take the steps necessary to have a richer, more satisfying professional life.

We can help you do that, but there is a caveat: The body language techniques we cover work best if you belong in a sales role. Because you were interested enough in improving to pick up this book, there is a high likelihood that your natural skill set includes the innate strengths you need to succeed in sales. But what if you have found yourself in a sales role and feel out of place in it? That is a piece of self-awareness thats vital to your success and in deciding next steps in your career.

The meat of the book is body language practices that can help people engaged in selling to go from suitable to extraordinary. This means transforming from someone who merely sells to someone who connects with clients and customerssomeone who persuades, influences, and closes. Adopting these techniques if you are miscast in a sales role may work, or it may project incongruity. The movements of a person who is not well-suited to selling often involve over-compensation for discomfort by excessive nodding and smiling. There may also be gestures that are over the top for the individual. The person in that situation is merely trying to be someone she is not. She is trying to act like someone who is good at sales.

Do not put yourself into a sales role if its a case of miscasting. Do put anyone else into that role, either, unless the person is well-suited for it. Otherwise, even if the new position is a promotion, you are not serving that person well, and, ultimately, youre the one who looks bad.

To confirm that sales in some form is a natural fit for you, we ask you take some time up-front in this process and do a short self-evaluation. Its a simple exercise Jim developed out of research for his first book, The Power of Risk: How Intelligent Choices Will Make You More Successful.

Before you begin the self-evaluation, consider how many different forms of sales there are. And when you review the categories, consider how unusual it would be for one person to be great at all of them!