Why appearance and body language is crucial for your success in professional life

Body language and appearance falls under the non-verbal communication category. The power of body language is often under estimated. The fact is that no matter how wisely you choose your words, if your appearance or body language is not supporting the message you are trying to convey, it’s not going to work. Body language is much more than making eye contact, firm handshake or continuously smiling (smiling is good but having a smile on your face all the time can make you look quite sheepish).

Following are some points that you must remember and apply in your business meetings and communications.

Getting the aid of appearance:
When we talk of appearance, it includes both.

i) Your appearance in oral communication
ii) The appearance of your message in written communication

Good brains are undoubtedly more important, but good looks do not go in vain either. In fact, they become essential if meeting with clients or making sales is included in your job description. Spend some of your earnings on buying good professional dresses, shoes, jewelry or perfume. As far as written communication is concerned, use good quality papers, envelopes, and most importantly a neat organized message. Typos or grammatical mistakes will also ruin the appearance of your message.

Body Language:
Your body posture, gestures, expressions, hand movements or your voice tone, each of them contributes in making your communication effective or ineffective. The sooner you realize it, the better your chances to improve. Imagine yourself in different professional scenarios and visualize your body language. Were you too aggressive or dominant when communicating with your subordinates? Did you have that closed body posture during the last business meeting you had? Do you think your interviewee noticed that you were nervous, even when all of your answers were reasonably good? Body language can convey some pretty useful messages even before you have uttered a single word.

Improving your body language:
Improving your body language needs practice and a lot of that. It’s not easy to change your gestures, movements or posture that you have been carrying since your childhood, but it’s not impossible at all. Start from your facial expressions and voice. Make eye contacts when necessary; try not to reveal the negative emotions during business meetings from your face e.g. boredom, anger or tiredness. Record your voice and then listen to it. This practice will give you an idea on how understandable your oral communication is. Avoid making gestures as much as you can, especially if you are meeting some foreigners. Don’t make unnecessary movements while talking; it will only distract your audience. You can even control your nervousness by just acting more confident. Ask your friends or family members to comment on your body language and if they are kind enough to point out some shortcomings, try to improve on them.