A recent article in Scientific American Mind (Mar/Apr 2017) says that holding a hot cup of tea or coffee just before meeting someone makes us think better of them, and, by contrast, holding an icy drink causes us to think less kindly. Studies have found that giving someone something warm to hold or raising the temperature in a room makes us friendlier, more compassionate and more caring. And the reverse is true: chilling a person causes them to be less cooperative, more judgmental and meaner.
Our internal thermometer is also adjusted by the attitudes of others. If people are friendly to us, pay us a compliment and smile, it has the same effect on our internal temperature as getting a hot cup of tea. By the same token, if others are aloof or mean to us we feel a chill (being met with a chilly reception is also felt physically).
In and of itself this is one of those little science factoids you may read and quickly forget, but often it is helpful to pause for a minute and ask whether the information could possibly help us be more effective in our business. If feeling warmer makes us feel better, perhaps asking the prospective client, “How do you like your coffee?” when they come to your office for that first meeting will start the relationship on the right foot (and notice we didn’t ask them if they wanted coffee, because the response is more likely to be a no).
Speaking of temperature, what is the office thermostat set at? It may seem comfortable to you in your suit coat, but feel cold if you’re wearing a golf shirt. Retirees tend to run colder with age, so it may be a good idea to bump up the thermostat a couple of degrees if you have a session with a septuagenarian in an hour. This raises another question—is your office senior friendly?
When we age, both physical and cognitive abilities tend to decline. We’re all aware that reading glasses become the norm, but it also becomes more difficult to concentrate. On the eyesight battle line, make sure that the room is bright, the chart colors are vivid, and the font is at least 14 point.
When it comes to aiding concentration with senior clients, meet in a quiet room without music playing, make your key points distinctly, go slow, and schedule the meeting for mid morning. You also want the room to smell neutral, so put a cap on the air fresheners. Speak a little louder than normal. If your normal voice is a deep bass or alto, try to speak in a slightly higher register (aging means we don’t hear low sounds as well).
Another finding that can be put to good use is how consumers are positively influenced. What doesn’t work are celebrity endorsements and colorful brochures showing photos of happy people—consumers find these to be manipulative. What works are recommendations from actual clients and seeing that you have helped similar people with similar needs.
The scene is set: The prospective clients walk into your warm office where they are warmly greeted and comfortably settled in with a hot cup of tea. Instead of product brochures, the binder at their elbow contains testimonials from your clients. After a few minutes to decompress from their commute (and read about how wonderful you are) they are led to the well-lit, quiet conference room where solutions to their needs are presented clearly. An hour later you bid adieu to your new clients.
