Beyond Words

How good are you at reading the subtle signals?

What to look for before you start.....

Are you in or out?

Who's in charge?

What do they really think of you......at the networking event? at the interview? at the club? at the party?

I was involved as a consultant to a negotiation a few years ago. The company who hired me was involved in a transaction with a traditional Asian company. Their group came in and a the negotiation began. It seemed to be going fine until the last details were about to be nailed down. Their was an impasse and a pulling back on the part of the Asian negotiators, and they wanted a break.

I took the lead negotiator outside of the room and told him, that the person he was talking to directly wasn't the decision maker. I noticed there was one older man in the group who had not said a word during the entire meeting, yet I had witnessed subtle non-verbal signals from him all through the discussion. I instructed my client to address the older man when we resumed the negotiation, and ask for the order. When we went back inside, he followed my instructions. He listened to what the lead negotiator had to say, and he answered making direct eye contact with the older man who had yet to speak. He then asked the older man for the order and waited holding eye contact.The older man showed a brief flash of surprise, looked down for a moment, then he smiled and nodded to the man who was serving as the lead negotiator. The deal was done, and my client had made a significantly better deal than he had anticipated.

Tonight you will learn to read some of http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/5/e/event_217863422.jpegthe subtle signals, and the not so subtle. You will learn the one signal you must overcome before you can even begin to influence, and the one action you must notice and shut down the moment it occurs. Miss either of these and you are wasting your time going forward.