You try to arm your reps with the best tools for closing deals during face-to-face meetings. But one or more of these six habits could be sabotaging your sales force:

1. Taking eyes off the prize. Failure to hold eye contact signals discomfort and lack of confidence.
2. Filling in. Clogging up speech with “ums” and “uhs” shows a lack of conviction and undercuts the message.
3. Uptalk. Inflecting upwards turns everything into a question and undermines assurance.
4. Fidgeting. Excessive movements give off nervous vibes that also make prospects uneasy.
5. Hiding the fidgets. Masking fidgets (by doing things like crossing arms) amps up awkwardness and builds a barrier against communication.
6. Hiding in plain sight. We minimize the space we occupy (by moving feet together or hunching) when we feel intimidated, and this screams it.

Tags: credibility, habits