Customer communication, body language and swivelling chairs...

In my first article I talked about various customer “types” that had visited my family’s newsagent when I was growing up. One of the important lessons from that experience was how to read a customers body language to determine how I would respond. For example, the grumpy lady had a certain posture, a determined walk, and an eye contact style that allowed me to immediately know how I needed to adjust my style to be able to connect with her.

With the global pandemic changing how we work (i.e. predominately working from home) it got me thinking about how we can still capture what our customers are trying to say to us without the benefit of body language. There are, after all, golden moments in a boardroom discussion where you are, for example, delivering a sales pitch to your prospects. You can assess, just by glancing across the room, how your delivery is being received so that you can dynamically adjust accordingly.

What about when you are consulting with a customer and are wanting to learn more about the processes they follow? The in between moments of work vs relationship building are so important to building long term relationships with customers. How can be achieved through Zoom/Teams?!

Albert Mehrabian, a Professor of Psychology, developed the 7-38-55% communication formula. Through his experiments, he determined that only 7% of communication is spoken words, 38% is your voice and tone and a massive 55% is body language. While this may not apply to ALL communication scenarios, it does highlight the need to consider how we communicate effectively, especially now more than ever before!

With the challenge of connecting with my customers remotely in mind, I’m constantly trying to learn and adapt to compensate for the lack of physical face to face communication I am used to. I wanted to take a moment to share what is having a positive impact for me since I started working 100% from home:

1. Invest time in creating a positive working space: when I first started working from home I had an empty room with a tiny desk (20 years old by the way!) and chair that was facing a wall. After 2 weeks I could feel the impact of working in this type of environment and really was struggling to maintain focus. Ultimately, if you are uncomfortable in your working surroundings this will impact your mindset and ultimately will lead to fatigue - what impact do you think this will have on your video conference call? You guessed right, your productivity nose dives, you are less energetic on calls and that’s what shines through to the other party. I made 2 main changes to transform how I felt. Firstly, I replaced my desk with a sit/stand desk that was a little bigger and meant I could alternate throughout the day to keep the energy levels going strong! Secondly, I turned my desk around so I was facing the window. What a world of difference this makes! Having any view that isn’t a wall is a good thing. It also helps with eye strain as you are more likely to look away from your screen naturally throughout the day.

1. The power of plants! I bought a plant that’s in my line of sight. Plants bring so much benefit to your work environment including natural stress relieve, helping to purify the air etc.
2. I change up my working spot: You can be productive away from your desk. I spend most of my time at my desk when I am in video conference calls but if I need to get my head down and work on a document, I’ll take my laptop to the sofa to get a change of scenery - this also helps massively with focus as I will usually close down any other apps and just focus on writing in that moment (More on Getting Thing Done (GTD) in a future article!).
3. Video vs Voice call! Remember the 7-38-55% formula? Given that we cannot be in each others presence I now make a conscious effort to turn my cameras on and have a virtual face to face chat whenever I can. Being able to at least see the face of the other person and you showing yours is so important. Whether it's someone new or someone you know, pay attention to their facial expressions and tone - remember they may not be using their words but they ARE communicating with you. It is, however, a little awkward when the other person doesn't turn on their camera!
4. FOCUS on your conversation. Isn't it horrible when you are talking to someone via video call and they are not looking at you and instead sifting through their inbox? This a pet peeve of mine. There is nothing worse than watching someone on your video call "zone out" and start reading and responding to the emails that are coming in. I mean, I get it, they are distracting so why not close Outlook or at least turn off notifications so that you are not disturbed during your meeting?
5. Stop swivelling! I have to admit I am totally guilty of this! I have a tendency to want to move from side to side and which must be so distracting to the other party in the conversation. Please know that I am working on it - nobody is perfect after all ;)

We all need to think about how we communicate with one another differently for the foreseeable future. Most importantly, we need to be aware that the lack of physical interaction with one another DOES impact how we can connect on a level that supports positive discussions, creativity, productivity and trust in the work environment.

Building and maintaining relationships with our customers and colleagues is going to be that little more difficult when your only means is through a computer screen but that doesn't mean we cannot make it work. Remember we are all human and spending a few minutes on your conference call to simply ask how someone is, can transform your discussion from being sterile and boring to a productive and enjoyable one.

Bim Dave (a.k.a. Corner Shop Boy)