As part of Keller Williams NYC’s training program, agent Leisa Aras hosted a class about reading body language. As a former San Francisco homicide investigator, Aras has had plenty of experience studying the body language of anyone from criminals to clients in the real estate world to her twelve-year-old daughter. “I use a lot of what I did as an investigator in my job in real estate today,” Aras said.
She encouraged those who attended the training session to always pay attention to proximity, hands and feet, posture and even head position. Staying attentive is always important in real estate in order to learn about your client without hearing them say a thing. Human communication is made up of 55% body language, 38% voice and tone and only 7% of a person’s words.
Aras noted that it is crucial to understand that cultural norms are fluid and in some countries, physical proximity and personal space is viewed differently than others. For example, she said that in her home country of Australia, people are very social and outgoing while in other countries such as Japan people value personal space and are far more reserved. One of her biggest tips for those who want to improve their ability to read body language is to watch a half hour show without the sound every night for three weeks. This exercise will force you to try to figure out what is going on and what people are saying based on their body language. Another helpful thing Leisa did during her class was to go around and ask everyone what their strengths and weaknesses were and pointed out ways to improve upon them because it is important to be self aware of your own body language and tone.
Leisa’s class was recorded and will be posted on KWNYC’s YouTube channel soon for those who have taken an interest in the class but were not able to make it.