If you´re aiming for business growth and, let´s be honest who isn´t, then it´s vitally important to think about the way in which you present yourself to existing or prospective customers.

The business growth you´re seeking will spring from creating bonds of belief and mutual trust between yourselves and your current and future business partners and it´s impossible to appreciate the degree to which an understanding of body language – your own and that of others – can boost your chances of successfully putting your point across.

Just ask yourself: if you had to make an important sale, one that was vital for business growth, would you rather do it on the phone or face to face? Cleary, the latter is preferable, but why should that be? Put simply, the difference between meeting in person and over the phone, the difference between merely presenting yourself and really selling yourself, and all too often the difference between business growth and business stagnation, lie in something you can only show in person – your body language.

Learning to control your own body language, and read what´s given out by others, will prove an invaluable aid to business growth, allowing you to build and manage relationships and tailor your message to suit any individual audience. It will even give you the awareness to adapt a presentation or conversation to meet the reaction you´re receiving.

Body language is a huge subject, and an in-depth account would take up more space than we have here, but the basics required to aid business growth can be grasped quickly and, once mastered, will prove a valuable asset indeed.

Posture

The manner in which you carry yourself, and in which others carry themselves, can often set the tone for a meeting. Sitting, slouched back, arms crossed, sends out the signal that a person is not engaged, is “closed off”, not interested and perhaps even hostile. A quick glance around the room as you make a presentation or deliver a sales pitch should enable you to pick out the people you are taking with you and those you´re leaving behind. Thus, you´ll be able to shift the tone or focus of what you´re saying in a manner that can bring those who appear ambivalent or openly hostile onside. Leave it until the Q and A session at the end of the meeting and it might already be too late; by missing the body language signals others are giving out you could have missed the chance to forge alliances key to your business growth.

On your own part, it´s vital to keep your posture alert but still relaxed, leaning forward, engaging with whoever you´re talking to and perhaps slightly mimicking their stance and gestures, a technique known as “mirroring”, which helps foster a sense of kinship and co-operation, leading to a greater chance of forming the alliances and partnerships you´re aiming to gain from the meeting.

Eye contact

Eye contact is vital, but must be handled with care. Too little eye contact with the people you´re talking to will make you appear evasive and even untrustworthy, but don´t be tempted to overcompensate by staring hard straight at one person throughout, as this will feel aggressive and domineering. Get the balance right and you´ll set up an unspoken two-way communication process in an atmosphere conducive to the forming of partnerships and alliances.

Hand gestures

Pay attention to what your hands are doing; the business growth you crave isn´t just going to be handed to you, you´ve got to earn it through clear confident communication and if you have a tendency to gesture with your hands when speaking, this must be kept in check. Small, calm hand movements emphasising key points are fine; wildly gesticulating, flapping your arms all over the place, however, will create the impression of someone not fully in control. Equally if the person across the table from you is “fiddling” – tapping their fingers, playing with a pen, etc. – then this “displacement activity” would tend to indicate that their attention is wandering. Spot it early enough and you can do something about it to give your meeting a greater chance of success.

Other gestures, such as chin stroking or face scratching, are often indicative of someone deep in thought, so something you´ve just said has obviously struck a chord. Spotting these gestures could be your cue to press home the point and secure the deal that assures your business growth.

As an exercise, try having yourself videotaped “in action”; as it were, and watch the tape with the sound turned off, bearing these points in mind. Do you look confident, at ease, the master of your brief? Are you spotting and reacting to your audience´s unconscious responses? Your future business growth could depend on you doing so.