Face to face sales can be as much about what you do as what you say. Compared to a phone sale or email, there is an exponential increase in the number of factors you must control for optimal sales technique. That’s not inherently a good thing or a bad thing-with that increase in factors comes an increase in opportunities to win the prospect over. Understanding what kind of body language kills a sale and what closes one can be the single defining difference between successful and unsuccessful, so in this article we’ll be discussing how you can use your body language to sell more than ever before.

Be Calm

Nothing will kill your sale quicker than being visibly nervous. Being otherwise agitated doesn’t help your case either-before you walk into the room to speak with your prospect, clear your mind of the noise and relax. Most of the body language queues here are in the hands. Don’t rub your hands together in excitement; don’t clench your hands in frustration. Want to sell more? Keep your hands at your side, your arms naturally relaxed.

Show Your Confidence

Confidence is contagious, and confident is where you want your prospect to be. Not just for closing today’s sale, but also so you can sell more tomorrow and the next day when they’re still satisfied with their purchase. The body language of confidence includes relaxed hands and arms, an aggressive forward-leaning posture, and relaxed, slightly back shoulders. Just don’t overdo it and walk in with your chest puffed like a cartoon superhero. These queues are more subtle than that.

Avoid Dishonest Tells

It should be obvious that lying to a prospect is a bad way to sell more in the long term, but even honest sales people might find themselves sending the wrong message with their body language. If you keep your hands away from your face, you’ll avoid quite a few of the standard indicators of lying. When lying, there is a natural urge to hide the face and mouth, which includes covering the mouth a bit, scratching your nose, rubbing your eyes, and other tells. Anyone familiar with body language will wonder just what you’re hiding if they see these gestures-so take your allergy medicine and avoid misunderstandings.

Crossed arms can also send the message of defensiveness associated with dishonesty, so that’s yet another reason to be aware of how you’re letting your arms move.

Careful with the Eyes

Too little eye contact makes you appear disinterested or dishonest. Too much eye contact creates discomfort and might ring of overcompensation to a thoughtful prospect. Learning to strike a balance on this seemingly simple thing can do wonders for helping you sell more.

Match the Prospect

As a rule, we like people who are like us. This carries down to the subconscious level, where we can form a positive opinion of a person from something as simple as equal pressure during a handshake. Don’t mimic the bad signs you might see, but if you can naturally use the little body language idiosyncrasies that you see the prospect use it can work in your favor. Do it right and you’ll find you sell more with minimal effort.

This Goes Both Ways

There’s more than one way to use body language to sell more. Everything you’ve read here hold true for the prospect, so be observant. Few things can empower your sales technique more than being able to read the subtle nuance of a prospect’s body language. So once you’ve optimized your own body language, put that knowledge to work analyzing your potential customers.