CONFIDENCE

Appearing confident is key to your customers believing in you and in turn buying from you

Mehrabian Theory

Professor Albert Mehrabian has pioneered the understanding of communications since the 1960s. His work featured strongly in establishing early understanding of body language and non-verbal communications.

The research found that all communication can be broken down like this:

•55% is in how you look.

•38% is in how you sound.

•7% is in what is said.

You can give someone all of the information you like, but unless you appear confident and sound confident a customer will not be interested in what you have to say.

Smile

Smiling is one of the most obvious ways to appear confident to a customer.

Start paying attention to your reflection – how would you describe yourself? Are you a smiler?

If not, chances are good that you aren’t a smiler with your customers either.

Another simple test is to pay attention to whether or not other people smile at you.

If you smile at someone, chances are good that they’ll smile back or at the very least their initial expression will soften. If you don’t see that happening, you’re not smiling enough or sincerely.

Eye contact

Numerous studies have shown that people who make higher-levels of eye contact with others are perceived as being:

• More qualified, skilled, competent, and valuable

• More trustworthy, honest, and sincere• More confident and emotionally stable• More warm and personable

Act Confident

Mimic confident people. Watch how other confident people present themselves, then try to pick up on their body language. It will eventually become a natural thing for you and help you convey it better yourself.

Posture

One way to appear more confident is to improve your posture. Here’s a few tips on how to improve your stance and appear more self-assured:

• Stand up as tall as you can.• Pull your shoulder blades down and back as far as possible.• Pick your chin up and look straight ahead

Don't Fidget

Fidgeting makes you look nervous.

Things to avoid:- shaking your leg- tapping your fingers- twirling your hair- cracking knuckles- clicking pen lids

All your movements should deliberate and meaningful

Eliminate your verbal ticks.

Some people use verbal ticks ("Uhhh..." "you know..." "I mean...” etc.) while thinking of what to say next.

This makes you sound like you're unsure of yourself, so it's better to silently pause in mid-sentence.

Pause

Speak Slowly

Speak 20 percent slower than seems natural.

Many people express nervousness by talking fast. People with real expertise tend to speak a bit slowly, as if they expect their listeners to hang on every word.

Don’t articulate a statement as a question.

A little inflection at the end of a sentence transforms even a definitive statement into a plea for approval.

If you're confident, you make statements that reflect your knowledge and opinion.

If you've got a question, you ask a question.

No mixing the two.

Inflection

Knowledge is power Know your product.

You don’t want to bamboozle your

customer with too much information,

but it is vitally important you can

answer any questions they

might have with very little

hesitation.