My chair made that loud and distinct noise that only leather does as I adjusted my position. I had been sitting for a while, attentively listening to a patient tell me about what’s been going on in his life since our last session, but despite him sharing what seemed like every possible detail, I knew he was leaving something important out.
How did I know?
Well, this may sound hokey, but I knew he was leaving something out because of his body language. It just didn’t line up with what he was saying, so I instinctively knew something was off.
What most people don’t realize is that while we may have mastered the ability to tell a carefully curated story with our words, our subconscious mind will almost always tell the real story through subtle cues presented in our body language. This isn’t something that most people can hide.
You might see a highly-trained CIA operative align their body language with their omissions, misdirection and even outright lies, but the average person will almost always convey their true thoughts through their body language. This can provide tremendous insight to people who understand what to look for.
So why does this matter to you?
It matters because despite the fact that we’re still in a hot real estate market, closing a real estate transaction still requires proficiency in sales. The competition is fierce, so the better you can understand what a buyer or seller really wants, the more likely you are to close the deal in a way that’s favorable to you and your clients.
This gives you a powerful competitive advantage, which is always important, but could mean the difference between thriving or starving in the coming years because of market corrections, growing inflation and tightening credit requirements.
As we plow deeper into this new economy, skills that set you apart from your competitors will become more valuable than ever before.
Let’s unpack how to read others’ body language to get a better idea of what they’re really thinking, as well as how to use our own body language to build more trust and authority.
Always be authentic
When it comes to your own body language, it’s important to always be authentic. While you can try to fake it to appear more confident and authoritative, that rarely works if it’s not congruent with your subconscious.
That incongruence is almost always noticeable, at least on a subconscious level, so while people probably won’t think, “Hey, this guy is faking his confidence to get me to buy this house,” they almost always will feel that something isn’t quite right, and that creates doubt and uncertainty which can kill a deal.
