262 I Can Read You Like a Book
Sales
This is your body-language primer on dealing with salespeople
or others who intrude into your arena. The best and pushiest sales-
people, such as those timeshare folks, are usually reasonably good
at instinctively doing what I am telling you in this book.
One of the best natural interrogators I have ever met, Mike
Ritz, was a successful timeshare salesman before coming to the
business. In fact, I learned and practiced some of the skills I detail
here while at SERE and living near Myrtle Beach. I would get the
free three-day weekend in exchange for listening to a 90-minute
harangue. In the process, I would practice reading the salesman’s
body language passively and proactively to get the results I wanted.
After doing this several times, I went to talk to a rep and admitted
I was not going to buy. His response was predictable: you are com-
mitted to 90 minutes. I responded that it would be the most frustrat-
ing 90 minutes of his life. As I toyed with him by appearing interested
to the point of closing and then jerking the rug from beneath his feet
more than once, he asked me to leave and gave me lovely parting
gifts. I had been wrong: it was the most frustrating 30 minutes of
his young life.
When you do not want the intrusion of a fundraiser, sales-
person, or door-to-door evangelist, use the combined body language
of barriering that says, “I do not have time for you”:
ƒ Crossed arms.
ƒ Looking at your watch.