A yes usually shows up on someone’s face a few seconds before it shows up in their words. Larry Chiang’s pen-drop close is built around exactly that gap, you set the pen down and wait for the physical moment before the verbal one. A shift in posture, leaning slightly forward, or a hand reaching toward the table are small signals worth more than most people give them credit for.
You cannot catch these if you are anxious yourself, a keyed-up nervous system is too busy managing itself to read someone else’s face. That is part of why SuperModel’s presence rules matter, holding the listening position and staying still keeps you calm enough to actually notice. PQRST’s read step is not only about documents, it applies to the person across the table in real time too.
A held breath, a longer pause than usual, or eyes that drop to your notes instead of your face can all precede a yes. None of these signals are guarantees, they are just better odds than waiting for someone to say the word out loud.
The video below shows a moment where the agreement is visible on someone’s face well before they say anything. Watching for these cues is not a trick, it is closer to just paying full attention instead of partial attention.
The pen-drop close works because it gives that expression a quiet moment to surface instead of getting talked over. Learn to read the pause before the yes, and you stop needing to ask twice.
Details: Watch the moment before the yes
#MicroExpressions #PenDropClose #Web12