Aug. 17, 2006 - More Negotiating

Last month, I shared my top 10 Strategies for Success in Negotiating. Often, we are so busy at thinking about our own strategy, we miss clues from the others involved. Watching the body language can tip you off to information that you might otherwise miss.

In their book,The Definitive Book of Body Language, Allan and Barbara Pease share their research on how we reveal meaning from the way we position our bodies, tilt or heads and scrunch our faces and how we can put ourselves in a position of power by subtle changes. Learning to be aware of and read these signals gives you an arsenal of secret weapons to better influence.

Here are just a few nuggets:

• The Power Gaze:To intimidate and stop someone cold, stare at the center of their forehead just above the eyes.
  
• The Power Stare: When you want to lend authority, maintain eye contact and narrow your eyelids without blinking.
  
• The Eyebrow Flash:To welcome and draw others to you, raise your eyebrows quickly.
  
• Position your body at an angle, as a better negotiating posture, rather than face on, which signals a desire to fight.
  
• Goodwill is created by laughing and nodding.
  Mirroring people's posture leads to a feeling of being in synch.
  
• To gain power, initiate the handshake and position your hand in the palm down position.

Fascinating stuff, don't you think? If nothing else, trying to read the body language should slow you down in the negotiating and bring more awareness to what is going on with the other person.

Sep. 19, 2006 - re: More Negotiating