Body

Language
Practical Tips

1. Use hand gestures to physically illustrate a point: rotating your palms up to display
candor, moving your hands wider apart when talking about a big idea, or pinching your
thumb and index finger together to indicate that this is a small issue.

2. Try steepling when you want to project conviction and sincerity about a point you’re
making. When someone is very certain about a point they are making, they often
“steeple” their hands. In this hand gesture, the tips of your fingers touch, but the palms
are separated.

3. Minimize or avoid self-soothing gestures, like rubbing your hands together, playing with
jewelry, ventilating by loosening your collar, or pulling your hair back from your neck.
These show that you are under stress or becoming aggressive or defensive.

4. Avoid aggressive signals include standing with hands-on hips, finger-pointing, and
clenching hands into fists. You’ll look defensive (whether or not you are) if you block
your body with crossed arms or by holding an object - between you and the investors.

5. If you want to project more enthusiasm, you can do so by increasing gestures. On the
other hand, over-gesturing (especially when hands are raised above the shoulders) can
make you appear erratic, less believable, and less powerful.

6. Project the leadership presence that makes investors want to be your partner. There are
two sets of body-language cues that investors instinctively look for in entrepreneurs:
Warmth and Authority

When you use warm, “pro-social” body language, you send signals of likeability,
empathy, candor, and connection. This is especially helpful because investors assess
whether or not you’re someone they’d trust and enjoy working with.
 The most effective sign of warmth is a genuine smile. It makes you feel better and signals
to others that you’re approachable, cooperative, and friendly. A genuine smile comes on
slowly, crinkles the corners of your eyes, and lights up your face. A fake or “polite” smile
comes on quickly and never reaches the eyes.

Other warm cues include:

• Open palm gestures that display candor.

• Forward leans that show you’re interested in what the other person is saying.
• Head tilts that are the universal sign of “giving someone your ear.”
• Head nods that signal agreement.

The second set of body language cues project power and authority. These cues signal
that you have the confidence and credibility investors are looking for in a business
partner.

Nonverbally, authority and power are displayed in height and space. If you are tall, it’s an
advantage because you look more powerful. If you are short, then standing tall with
shoulders back, head held high, keeping your body symmetrical will create the illusion of
height. A side benefit is that great posture will not only make you look more powerful,
but it will help you feel that way too. While you are pitching, using broad gestures, and
moving will moving from time to time is a nonverbal way of claiming space.

To display confidence and composure when answering difficult or challenging questions,

try these body language tips:

• Turn your body toward the investor who is asking the question.
• Maintain eye contact.
• Don’t fidget or rock side to side.
• Lean toward the investor so that you look receptive.
• Keep your body and your gestures open.
• Take a breath and on the exhale relax your shoulders. This will give you the time
needed to choose how you want to respond.

7. Cultivate the body language of openness. Maximize your body. A prospective client
wants to see that their adviser is confident and in control. They are coming to you for
help. Our brains equate “bigger” with “more powerful,” so set up an environment where
you can display more of your body. Take up space. For example, during the meeting take
the cup of coffee that is on your right and place it a full arms-length away from you. This
way they can see your entire arm. But don’t place the cup in their personal space, keep it
in your territory.
 8. Do not look off to the side. Keep eye contact. There are so many well-educated analysts
who are more than happy to share their knowledge with everyday people. But all of
those years of study fail to pay off when they look off to the side . . . lost in their own
technical, geeky world. That sideways glance is condescending and tells the prospective
client that they aren’t worthy of eye contact. And the relationship gets lost in that instant.

9. Look out for signs of discomfort, such as when a colleague or client’s feet twitched
during a meeting, or if someone takes more than five seconds to respond to a question.

10. Look for nodding and giving the impression they’re in agreement; but if they’re pursing
their lips together, that means “I disagree.” If the other party is already pursing their lips,
it’s time for you to go off-script and ask: “What are you thinking?” — because [the other
party] has already made up their mind.

11. Watch out for neck touches. We touch or cover our neck only when we’re worried, fearful
or feel insecure.

12. Use gravity-defying behavior — it’s performed in an upward direction — such as arching
the eyebrows or making the thumb visible and very pronounced as we talk and send a
positive subconscious message to the receiver. Eyebrow arching or flashing transmits
excitement or that something that pleases us. Flashing your eyebrows upward is even
more powerful than smiling when, for example, greeting a group of investors. Studies
we’ve done show it causes the reaction: “I really like this person.” We tend to favor
people who provide us with psychological comfort, and this is very comforting behavior
we’ve always seen: We respond to an eyebrow flash at three weeks of age. And we don’t
outgrow it.

13. There should be no display of discomfort that would indicate something the investor has
asked is difficult to answer. Don’t bite your lip, massage your hand, tap the side of your
nose, or scratch your face because you don’t know the answer. That sort of pacifying
behavior communicates psychological discomfort. Also avoid rubbing your forehead,
touching the area around your mouth, adjusting your collar or tie, and stretching your
neck.

14. You can tell things are bad because of the amount of eye covering and eye rubbing
that’s going on. Eye blocking says: “I’m troubled by something.”

Other Key Points

 1. Stressful situations make us behave in ways we’re not entirely aware of, and second, we
are poor judges of the impression we make on others. Seeing ourselves on video for the
first time often makes both points quite clearly.

2. Pitching is emotional. As Bill Reichert, Managing Director of Garage Technology

Ventures says: “VC decisions are not a logical process. Investors decide first in their
hearts and their guts. Only then do they validate those decisions analytically. You've got
to get them to 'wow!' Your job is to excite, not to educate.”

3. When animals, including humans, feel powerful, they expand. They take up space. They
stretch out. When we take up more time speaking—speaking slowly, taking natural
pauses, and so on—we are seen as more powerful, and we feel more powerful, too.

4. Executives who are uncomfortable with what they are saying often use “distancing
language,” such as changing pronouns from “I” and “we” to “the company.”

Additional readings:

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/elizabeth-holmes-used-psychopathic-body-
language-on-her-employees-and-investors

https://hbr.org/2019/05/when-you-pitch-an-idea-gestures-matter-more-than-words

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2020/11/17/is-your-body-language-attracting-investors-or-killing-your-pitch/?
sh=40dd2a6f6f5f

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2013/10/23/5-body-language-tips-for-pitching-to-investors/?sh=450d2ccc5767

https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2018/02/05/lets-get-physical-body-language-and-success/

https://www.ft.com/content/31bc6a28-37ab-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2018/08/28/how-to-decode-your-clients-body-language-according-to-an-ex-fbi-agent/

https://goop.com/wellness/mindfulness/getting-good-at-body-language/
http://blog.investorrelations.com/blog/reading-body-language-the-investment-communitys-new-secret-weapon/