Remember the body language rules!

1. Our mind-reading or ‘thought-reading’ derives from observing:
   • eyes
   • facial expressions
   • gestures
   • posture
   • vocal characteristics.
2. Be aware of the 3 Cs at all times:
   • context
   • congruence
   • clusters.
3. Warning: ID 10T error.
   Observance of the 3 Cs is the key to your ‘mind-reading’. Misinterpret and you’ll be committing what’s known (by me!)as the classic ID 10T error.
4. Remember the 55, 38, 7 rule.
5. Be aware of your own and other people’s body language by looking for:
   • displacement activities
   • self-comfort gestures.
6. The key – when analysing body language – is always to look out for behaviour that indicates if a person is experiencing comfort or discomfort.
7. Every thought produces a body reaction.

Coffee break ...

• Your likeability determines your success in both your personal and professional life.
• The secret of likeability is: how you make others feel.
• Research shows that if you make others feel good about themselves, through eye contact and paying attention, you are perceived as attractive.
• First impressions are important so it is no surprise that the first thing a person judges you on is your appearance.
• The smile comes out very high as a common denominator in the likeability stakes because it evokes a reciprocal response from the other person.
• Listening scores very highly in promoting likeability: women tend to be more animated when talking with each other and therefore tend to establish rapport quicker than men.
• Women tend to listen with the whole body, showing visual clues and promoting more empathy.
• Men tend to show fewer visual clues that give evidence of listening, so when a woman comes across a good male listener she’s usually ‘bowled over’!
• Like listening, good eye contact is a winner, but also expression in the eyes comes over as influential in the likeability equation.
• Voice plays a big part too: if your pitch, tone and loudness are ‘in sync’ with their liking, you gain deeper rapport with the person.
• The biggest influence in your likeability ‘quotient’? Why, your body language of course.