Wouldn’t it be great to be able to read the minds of your employees and customers? Sure, you hear the things they say right now but we both know that there’s sometimes a difference between what they say and what they think. To your face, they’re friendly and polite; but what do they say behind your back?
You DON’T want disgruntled employees speaking poorly about your business. You DON’T want unhappy customers telling their family and friends negative things about your business.
Although you might not be able to literally read their minds, you can do the next best thing. Here’s what I mean:
When anyone communicates, their communication is made up of three things:
1. The words they say
2. The tone they use
3. Their body language
Many people would say that the words someone uses holds the most information about what someone wants to communicate. However, that’s not true: In reality, our words make up less than 20% of any communication. It’s our tone and body language that tell the REAL story about what we’re trying to communicate.
You can read someone’s mind if you pay only a little attention to the words they say and instead pay more attention to their tone and body language.
• Is their tone short and clipped? They’re probably angry.
• Is their tone warm and friendly? They’re probably happy.
• Is their body language closed and tense? They might be upset or nervous.
• Is their body language open and relaxed? They might happy and at east.
Of course these are just a few ways to interpret tone and body language – it can get far more subtle than this. I go into great detail in my book Secrets Of Communication Mastery in which I describe how to interpret body language and even eye movements, and what they tell you about what the other person is thinking.
Once you know this information, it becomes an invaluable aid to help you get to the root of any communication regardless of what the person is saying. When you notice that the other person’s words don’t match their tone and body language, you can say something like, “I hear what you’re saying but I sense that there’s more you want to share. Please feel free to be open with me so I can serve you better.”
This is useful for employees because it helps you identify when one of your team members might be upset or might disagree with a decision you make – you can address it with them. This is also useful for customers because it helps you identify just how satisfied a customer is with the service they receive from you – regardless of how satisfied they say they are!
You can’t read people’s minds but this comes pretty close. When you know how to use it, it’s very effective.
If you were waiting for the perfect time to seize this opportunity, the time is now. Read our Home ServiceMAX Magazine for FREE, today!
