98,718 Views. Early in my sales career I was asked to go to a seminar that was to “empower me” with a new sales method. I was skeptical. You know the drill… fold your arms in a group and before you know it everyone has their arms folded. In other words you were in control by manipulation. The seminar went further. If you swiped your hand to the left you were putting a negative influence out where to the right would be the opposite. I could mess with their brain, cool.

Armed with this new closing power I went to work. Lean forward, pressure was on. Palms up forward facing, body sitting back relaxed, pressure was off. Lean forward and stare at the potential client and not say a word. Serious pressure. People would actually start to sweat.
“Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously.” -Wikipedia
I still see a lot of this type of manipulation today with some motivators and coaches. They run into the room full of non-motivated people with aggressive body and hand movements. In an effort to control they ask to repeat after them with a hand raised and so on… And you know what… it works! For awhile.








