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Our Gestures Often Betray Us

The article above in Spanish was recently published in A Tu Salud Magazine. A rough English translation of the article is below:

Our gestures often betray us: As much as we try to disguise our intentions or feelings, we project microexpressions: involuntary movements of our face that reveal what we hold deep and try to hide at all costs .

Fractions of a second beyond the human eye, but easily caught by cameras because technology is now able to detect those tiny and quick facial expressions that reveal pursed lips , wide eyes that reflect fear or scrunching  of the nose  showing disgust.

Thus, some experts have created programs that analyze the 44 facial muscles and are great tools in detecting lies. This software, is so helpful that agents of American law have been involved. “There are programs that are being promoted as useful to capture criminals by reading their faces. [However,] only reading this part of the body can not exhaustively determine who is a criminal, whether or not they committed a crime or are thinking about committing a crime,“ explains Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence agent specialized in the area of nonverbal communication . “These programs are created to detect stress in the face or concealed emotions, [however] these emotional leaks are not themselves indicators of deception , because there is no single behavior that indicates [that],“ Navarro added .

Meanwhile, Mark Frank, a researcher at the University of Buffalo (USA ), which has worked on the facial expressions of people in pressure situations also notes that “this type of work and the results have influenced the training of law enforcement .“

More than just a behavioral screening tool, they [the experts trained in microexpressions] can determine what to delve into deeper to find out the truth. Therefore it is useful to law enforcement because “It helps them decide which questions are to be asked to get more facts and which can then be compared with other evidence .“

For David Matsumoto , a professor of psychology at San Francisco University of California (USA ) , “the use of nonverbal behavior as a tool to penetrate the personality, motivation and intentions of individuals, especially those with hostile intent or who are lying, can be very useful in all cultures.“ In fact, in his research in nonverbal behavior especially microexpressions has aided the U.S. Department of Defense.

Several programs, such as METT , SETT (developed by the pioneering psychologist in the study of emotions and their relationships with the facial expressions , Paul Ekman ) and MiX Elite/SubX Elite (David Matsumoto ) serve as training for signs of facial expressions of emotion [that flash on and off the face very quickly and are expressed in his stakes situations].

Individuals download a  program , showing faces  that do not reflect any expression [neutral] and suddenly a snapshot of a particular  gesture is displayed for a fraction of a second and the individual must identify emotion was displayed. In the case of METT , if the character is angry, for example, it is reflected across his face (very quickly).  The SETT and SubX trainings, are even more complex , they only show the partial expression (i.e. just the eyes, or just

Frank adds that “programs are not catching criminals themselves, but help to better read the signs of subtle emotions on others to better understand and interact well with them and get to the truth.“

WHAT IS YET TO IMPROVE

Navarro, a former FBI agent, however is more skeptical, “this software ignores the rest of the body. It noted that these programs only consider the face, and there , as Navarro points out in his latest work, ” Clues To Deceit ” there are over 200 signals that help us in detecting stress, and most of them are not micro expressions, and they are observed in other parts of the body as well.“

Even Paul Ekman , who coined the term microexpression, affirms in his books that they [microexpressions] are a single behavior that is indicative of deception, but are signs of distress especially hidden emotions.

Matsumoto agrees that “I believe that the behavior does not verbal is one of the best tools. I do not think I have a unique opportunity to catch criminals, but rather a combination of techniques and tests that greatly enhance the research.“

For the former FBI agent, Navarro, the best way to identify and intercept criminals remains the classic “physical observation by a trained professional . Look for signs such as excessive sweating , agitation , facial expressions,  heavy smoking , dress , etc.“

High or Low? Comparing Makes it So!

William Shakespeare penned this famous line in Hamlet, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Two people can experience the very same thing and one person views it as good while another person sees it as bad. This happens because when we make judgments about good and bad we’re making them in relation to something else.If you’re in sales and I asked what objection do you face the most when trying to make a sale, I have no doubt the vast majority of people reading this would say, “Price!” When someone says your price is too high it’s because they’re comparing it to something else.Is $20,000 a lot to pay for a car? Some of you reading this don’t think so because you may drive a high-end car like a Mercedes or BMW, and your ride costs much more than that. Others might view $20,000 as expensive because you’re not into cars and therefore pay a good bit less than that for your vehicle of choice. In both cases, you’re comparing what you’ve paid in the past to $20,000.As a salesperson here’s what I want you to remember:“There’s nothing high or low but comparing makes it so.”The next time you face the price objection, recognize this simple fact and then look for ways to ethically change the prospective customer’s point of comparison. In the end everyone wants to feel like they got a good deal or great value. In our sales training we define value as follows:V = WIG / PValue (V) equals what I get (WIG), divided by price (P). If I can get more for the same price I feel like I got a better deal. Or, if I can get the same thing but pay less, I still believe I got a better deal.This is where you’ll see advertisers tout “25% more” or “2 for 1.” In both cases you get more (WIG) for the same price (P). On the flip side we see sales all the time. During a sale we get the same item (WIG) for less money (P). I’ve often shared the following example in training. A company in Southern California sold spas and hot tubs. Prices ranged from $6,000 on the low end to $15,000 on the upper end. As you might imagine, most salespeople started low and tried to upsell customers. The problem with that approach is once you start at $6,000 the $15,000 spa seems very, very expensive…by comparison.During a consultation with Robert Cialdini it was mentioned that people who bought the $15,000 spa used it more than some rooms in their homes. The logical question was – how much would it cost to add an additional room to a home in Southern California? Most people said anywhere from $60,000 – $80,000. Ah ha! A potential new comparison point!Dr. Cialdini advised the spa client to start the sales process with the $15,000 spa and weave the room addition question into the sales conversation. It might go something like this:Salesperson – “Customers who bought the XP5000 spa love it. In fact, many say they use it as much or more than any room in their house and quite often use it to entertain. If you were to add a room to your home how much would that cost?”Customer – “I don’t know, maybe $60,000 or $70,000.”Salesperson – “Well I have good news. You don’t need to spend $60,000 or $70,000 to get that enjoyment because the XP5000 is only $15,000.”And how well did this approach work? Sales for the high-end spa rose 520% in the three months following the change in sales approach. In the three months before the change, the company only sold five high-end spas. In the three months following the change they sold 26 spas!No new advertising, no television commercials, and no price discounts were needed. All of those approaches would cost a good bit of money. Instead they simply tweaked their sales conversation to include a legitimate new point of comparison.So for my salespeople out there, here’s your take away when dealing with the price objection – “There’s nothing high or low but comparing makes it so.” Look for legitimate comparison points then weave them into your sales conversation. If you have a good product that’s worth the asking price you should see sales take a nice jump up as you reframe how customers view your price. Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.

Influence is Content and Context

Influence Context

In an interview I recently conducted with Dr Robert B Cialdini (referred to by some as the “Godfather of Influence”) he made a simple point that due to its simplicity could be easily overlooked.  He said something he found remarkable when he was conducting his systematic field based research, that ultimately led to the discovery of the six universal principles of persuasion, was “there are really two domains that are available to increase the success of an attempt to influence someone in your direction”.  

1.  The content of what you are offering

2. The context or the psychological frame in which the offer or request is placed

Too often we focus on the content alone.  We look at the features of our product or service.  We focus on what we do and create a letter, email, pitch or website based around the content.  Yes the content is important but if you focus just on what you do, making it overwhelmingly detailed and polished, you can lose the target of influence long before you have the chance to get them to say “yes” to your request.

The critical aspect is the context.  It is the psychological frame we have the target of influence considering the content from within.  For example, if you go to see the most marvellous painting but when you arrive it is in a dark corner, housed in an old damaged frame, with larger more commanding pieces surrounding it thereby making it appear small and unimpressive.  The painting will probably fail to live up to your expectations.  However take the same piece of art, properly lit, framed perfectly and in a space that allows for its admiration, then the context in which the painting is viewed changes our perspective of it.  The painting itself is the same; i.e. the content is the same.  It is the context in which it is considered that is different.

Therefore when writing an email or preparing for a meeting, whatever, here are my tips.

Get the content down.  Write it out.  Purge your head of the things you need to say.
Once you have the content out then go back and look at context.  Consider the framing, the phraseology and principles that best apply to presenting your case in its best possible light.

In my upcoming book Influencing Business, Dr Cialdini shares the following example:

“A number of years ago, some of my researchers and I went around to the homes in a suburb in the Phoenix, Arizona area where I’m currently living, asking people if they would be willing to donate to a good charitable cause The United Way.  For half of the homes we approached we asked for a donation in the same way that the typical charity solicitor would.  We described the benefits that will come from supporting the organization, the good work that we did and then asked for a contribution.

For the other half of the homes, we did exactly the same thing and then we added five words. We said “even a penny would help”.

Even a penny would help didn’t change the merits of this organization’s good works and how they went about it. None of that was changed, but we suddenly created a situation that made it difficult for them to say no. Because even a penny would help.

What happened was we increased the percentage of people who gave a contribution from 33% to 55% …by simply changing the psychological frame in which we placed that request.” 

This week, consider the context in which you are presenting your requests and ask yourself, is that best possible way to get the target of influence to consider your request.

Let me know where you have seen content presented in partnership with an ill-fitting context.

 

 

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