Reading Facial Microexpressions for Business and Negotiations with Annie Sarnblad

Annie Sarnblad has a Masters in Cultural Anthropology. She is certified in Facial Action Coding and can numerically code the 10,000 muscle combinations in human expression. With this skill, Annie has been helping companies to make informed decisions. Besides her corporate clients, Annie also helps high-profile families with heightened security needs, individuals navigating charged political situations, educators, peace mediators, medical professionals, and others.

In this episode, Annie talks about the importance of understanding microexpressions in business. She also discusses some of the most observable expressions that would enable business people to assess the situation properly and make necessary adjustments when needed.

Why you have to check out today's podcast:

• Learn about the science behind facial microexpressions
• Discover how understanding facial microexpressions could help you in your business
• Acquire knowledge about the most common microexpressions and how to capitalize on them when you are in a business meeting

"My piece of advice is for any business to recognize the importance that pricing can play in reaching their growth targets and objectives and making sure that they recognize that pricing has to be rooted in value."

– Annie Sarnblad

Topics Covered:

01:42 – Annie explains her skill of being a "human lie detector"

04:11 – The science behind reading facial microexpressions

08:32 – You have no control over facial microexpressions; it just shows

12:19 – No one can really just "smile" for the camera, except when they are actually happy

14:04 – Annie doesn't remember static faces, only the muscle movements

18:43 – Observing the pupil is the easiest to learn because we are already looking at the eyes

22:02 – Why Annie wanted to learn how to read microexpressions

24:30 – Always look out for "disgust" or the "no" face when you are in a meeting

26:16 – Seeing the "no" face means that you have a choice to make

28:57 – How simply looking for pupil dilation could help you pivot from one topic to another and increase your price

31:05 – Annie's pricing advice

Key Takeaways:

"Muscle movement precedes the thought process. Even somebody like me that's hyper-trained and thinks about this 24/7, I can't stop myself from making the micro expressions unless I change my thought patterns and think about something else." – Annie Sarnblad

"Nobody's ever felt cheerful when they get an order to smile." – Annie Sarnblad

"If we're building strategy, we can have incredibly intelligent, high-level strategic brains and know the business, know the industry, know the players. But if we're not understanding how the players are interacting with each other, what their primary motivations are, what's in it for them, if we don't understand what's under the surface, we're basing our strategy on the wrong things." – Annie Sarnblad

"Once people have a vocabulary for the stuff that they see all the time, they then can have a much higher-level conversation." – Annie Sarnblad

"I think people just are so rushed to get everything closed immediately that they sometimes don't use all the information that's available to them to make good choices." – Annie Sarnblad

Connect with Annie Sarnblad:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-sarnblad/

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: mailto:mark@impactpricing.com