Using Body Language Effectively

 May 11, 2010

Interview with Tonya Reiman, author of the book The Yes Factor: Get What You Want. Say What You Mean. The Secrets of Persuasive Communication

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Mike Carruthers:
You know that your body language says a lot about you so why not make it say good things?

Tonya Reiman:
You want to have good posture because if I walk into a room and my shoulders are slightly slumped over I’m not going to give the impression that I feel confident, instead I’m going to give the impression that I’m kind of trying to hide.

Tonya Reiman, author of the book The Yes Factor...

As opposed to walking in a little bit faster than normal, shoulders back, and kind of owning the room. Make sure that when you walk in, heads turn. And you do that by walking in tall, strong, smiling and making eye contact with the people in the room.

The gestures you use also say things about you.

Typically a person who makes smaller gestures tends to be slightly more powerful because powerful people feel they don’t need to make big gestures. Powerful people keep their gestures nice, small and tight because they recognize that people will go out of their way to pay attention to those gestures.

Just by the way you hold your hands sends a message.

If I’m talking to you and I’m using palms up gestures, which means you can see the palms of my hands and I’m saying to you, “Oh, I really think that this is a great deal, you’re going to make tons of money.” Well, palms up tends to be a submissive gesture, so that might give you an indication that I don’t even believe myself. A better way to do it is to have palms down because that’s a more authoritative position to take.
 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here