The office clown. This guy is more interested in making jokes and being liked than getting any work done. But we all know what to do when we see him bounding through the office with the expectant smile. We make the right noises and nod along with the seemingly never ending story until eventually it is over and we can get back on task.
The reason I am writing about this is because of what is known as the social contract. This is something that we all learn as children and take forward into our adult lives. Kids will just interrupt a conversation whenever they feel like it. I remember the comedian Louis CK saying that he could be in the middle of a shoot out with the cops and his daughter will be tugging on his sleeve to ask him a question.
But as we grow up we learn the rules; the polite things to say and do so that the very fabric of society can remain intact. That's why we nod along with someone we don't particularly want to talk to while making the appropriate noises. We have signed up to the social contract.
So during a sales conversation you may find a potential customer nodding along and seemingly agreeing with everything you say. In order to check that they are not merely fulfilling their end of the bargain with the social contract we look at a key area.
We look below the waist. The social contract does not extend to the legs and feet. Why? because who ever looks there in a conversation. We learn as we become adults to control our facial expressions and gestures so that a person is not uncomfortable and the contract is upheld. If however you glance below the waist usually at a person's feet you will most likely get a signal that betrays their true feelings.
