Communication is an interesting topic. Many of us seem to think that communication is all about how we connect with each other through the use of our words and our vocabulary. But unfortunately it’s a little more complex than that. You need to consider what your body language tells your prospects and clients when you are communicating with them.
Communication is about conceiving, sending, receiving, interpreting and confirming receipt of messages.
3 Primary Elements of Communication
1. Tonality (38%)
2. Words (7%)
3. Physiology (55%)
Tonality is how we say it. Words of course are the vocabulary we use. Physiology is our body language. The words we use and the way we say it only account for 45% of the communication process. Our body language really accounts for the majority of communication at 55%. But this area is usually the most misunderstood and underutilized segment of the communication process.
How Physiology Impacts Communication
Body language or physiology has many different aspects and elements. Eye contact, facial expression, gestures, physical characteristics, appearance, posture, and even touch. So if we don’t make eye contact often or in a sincere manner, what are we communicating to the prospect or furthermore how will they perceive that? Will they feel that you lack self-confidence or will they think that you aren’t being truthful or misleading them?
Our posture and hand gestures can have the same affect. If we slouch in our chair does that mean to the prospect we just aren’t interested? What if we point our finger at the prospect when making a point of reference? This can be a problem as we all have an internal tape that has recorded messages throughout our entire lifetime and those messages come back when triggered.
For instance, who pointed their finger at you as a small child? Our parents most likely. And generally when they pointed that finger it was usually accompanied by some parental point of reference. If that was a bad experience as a child, do you think it could be triggered when we point our finger? Certainly! And now we have recalled a bad experience and put ourselves on the wrong side of that communication barrier.
Too many times our thoughts and perceptions are written all over us and we don’t have to say a word for someone to pick up on what is happening with us internally. We must be fully aware of the body language messages we are sending. Our physiology sometimes can be detrimental to our efforts to communicate, but if we can focus on the body language we use, we can improve our communication with prospects and clients.
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