You are a leader, and being so, you have poured your life and love into envisioning a dream and steering that dream towards reality.
Now you are going to have to dramatically spark that same vision and enthusiasm with many different people in different roles such as investors, advisors, partners, customers, spouses, and employees as well.
First and foremost, I need not tell you how crucial it is to know your vision, market, and customer. Know them from every angle, front-back, and upside down. Know your product, price, distribution, and promotion, all of which are well researched. Because being unqualified to answer any question or objection speaks volumes about your credibility. Remember, word of mouth is one powerful and volatile tool.
Suppose you are trying to find the edge to seek authority and inspire others into rousing action in favor of your vision. In that case, your goal is to walk into that all-important meet and greet with the proper mental and physical projection. Your game plan is to be on the offensive!
To do this, you will have to set aside some all-important prep time beforehand. And you are going to prep often so that it will become second nature to you.
On the physical level, you will set your mind to studying and applying eye contact and good posture techniques. Mentally you are going to follow the power of positive thinking and envision your success. Consider these as armoring up for battle. You will do these beforehand, so they are switched “on” when it is most required.
In the following few sections, we will discuss in-depth physical techniques such as assertive and proper posture and winning confidence with eye contact. Later on, we will dive into mental sharpening topics such as creative visualization and the law of positive thinking. But first, let us now look at why these advantage-gaining techniques are a model you can not afford to overlook.
What is not generally recognized for the most part is that before anyone has ever opened their mouth, their own body has already expressed volumes. Those ever so quiet but essential subconscious cues have already been registered and read by the one before you. Now come on, you do it yourself. We seem to forget that only a small amount of communication involves actual words, around 9% to be exact. Eye contact and body language are the basic tools for getting a solid foot in the door at 60%. Where speed, pitch, tone, and volume of voice account for the last 30%. Potentially you could have lost that financier, client, or partner before you even have communicated.
The first impression penetrates everyone, whether bad or good. Putting a little time into identifying your own body language and making the modifications beforehand will be well worth the investment in time.
Getting mentally loaded and locked is the next step in how you polish your projection to powerfully influence others in their decisions that relate to you and your business, so be sure to catch up with us on the next installment of this ‘influence leadership’ series.
