If you are an entrepreneur, then you have likely faced challenges in recent times. Therefore, you should make good use of every asset available to you – even those that come naturally.
Your lifestyle can significantly affect your career, and few things communicate what type of life you live more than your teeth and gums. A simple smile can be an important tool in your professional arsenal. How you use your grin may depend on the situations you find yourself in, but it can nearly always have a crucial role.
Still, nothing is worse than being told to smile often. Unfortunately, women experience this problem regularly, and in some circumstances, it can be somewhat demeaning. However, in the world of business, a simple grin can help you optimise your firm’s performance in many ways. But how?
Browse these insights on how your smile can be a valuable business tool.
Putting Other People at Ease
All good leaders are both authoritative and likeable. They command respect yet ensure they come across as being approachable too.
A smile may unlock career advancement opportunities. If yours can put other people at ease, you will find that people turn to you for input and guidance. You will open communication channels and be one of the architects in developing an open, pleasant, and collaborative work culture. That will all get you noticed.
Bosses that are cold and calculating in the workplace don’t tend to inspire loyalty. Employees may grow to resent them and subsequently turn in work that is not their best. The answers to these problems can all start with a smile. Ensure the air doesn’t get sucked out of the workplace whenever you’re around and stay upbeat.
Hiding True Feelings
It’s important to be genuinely positive around your colleagues. However, it’s also essential for your smile to conceal your true intentions on occasion as well.
The perks of hiding your true feelings with a grin include:
- Hiding your nerves: If you’re dealing with important clients, they will want to do business with someone who is calm and composed. Your smile can communicate that.
- Defuse tension: Colleagues who’re feuding passive-aggressively need to be put in check quickly, lest they disrupt the workplace with their antics. Subtly charm them into calming down where possible.
- Monitoring workers: A smile can tell employees that all is well while you’re monitoring their behaviours and performance. Assessing them when their guard is down could be crucial.
- Getting on with colleagues you dislike: Your smile can ensure your dislike for a colleague never spirals into a heated rivalry. You can avoid a lot of workplace drama by simply gritting your teeth and smiling through any quibbles.
- Displaying your calm composure: Practice an unconquerable demeanour with your smile, and you’ll appear to be competent and unbreakable. The fewer problems you create, the more likely it is that you’ll be considered for career advancement.
Put simply, your smile gives you control in many different situations. Wearing your heart on your sleeve in the workplace isn’t always appropriate or smart, so a smile can help others perceive you as being your usual self when, in reality, your cogs are turning. While poker faces are often vacant and dormant, yours should be an ear-to-ear grin in a professional setting.
Adopting a Successful Image
Excellent oral hygiene can imply that you’re successful. It can contribute to the immaculate way in which you present yourself.
Revamp your smile with Verity Smiles aligners. After the market-leading dentist ensures a perfect fit at the beginning of the process, you’ll only need to have your aligners checked and replaced every 6-8 weeks. They’re barely visible, which means you don’t need to compromise on the aesthetics of your look at any stage. After that, you’ll be provided with a retainer and a free whitening kit for use at home. Verity Smiles offer an array of other treatments too.
The better your smile, the more charming you’ll appear. It could be important when it comes to persuading clients and business partners to work with you. A successful image can come down to details in your appearance as well as what car you drive, so try to make sure that you’re always looking your best.
Getting Through Bad Times
The life of the entrepreneur has many ups and downs. Even the most successful businesspersons have their share of concerns.
Still, smiling can help you win the day. Even Dame Vera Lynn stressed the importance of smiling as a coping mechanism of sorts. Your big grin can release endorphins that can bolster your mood and bring levity to situations that are otherwise dour and bleak.
After all the news surrounding the pandemic and economic instability, having a simple way to hang in there is a huge asset. If you’re in a leadership position, it may even be that your smiles can calm those around you, even when times are tough. It can inspire confidence and tell people that they should love their work as much as you do regardless of the circumstances.
There’s also the simpler point that smiling can create bonds between you and your colleagues. Who knows what friendships may develop out of your friendly persona? If you all like each other, you can hang out when you’re off the clock and work better as a team when on the job.
Steering the Interview Process
Recruiting talent to the business is a vital process. Done wrong, it can cost a firm an extortionate sum of money over a prolonged period.
If you’re ever in the position of questioning prospective candidates, ensure that you wear a smile at strategic points in the encounter. Does the candidate mimic your grin with a fake smirk of their own? How do they respond to you appreciating their jokes? Do they presume the interview is going well when you smile and mistakenly become too relaxed, or do they remain composed?
Remember that your smile is a form of non-verbal communication. Even if you’re not speaking any words, your grin tells the interviewee about your professional demeanour and what type of work culture they can expect to encounter. Most people will want to work with friendly and pleasant colleagues and superiors, so coming across that way from the outset may be in your best interests.
Whether it’s genuine or not, use your smile to navigate the interview process. Gauge how your job applicants respond to it. Illustrate what type of recruiter you are or set traps to lull them into a false sense of security. The choices, as ever, are yours here.
Providing Good Customer Service
Simple but effective, customers like to interact with representatives of a business who’re personable. Some cheer can keep them coming back as much as any good products and low prices can.
Though pandemic restrictions are lifting, it’s also worth noting that many people have been very lonely and isolated in recent times. Some people may still be experiencing anxiety in getting back out into the world and may appreciate any kindness directed toward them tenfold. In the end, your smile and friendly words may change someone’s day, and that count’s for a great deal in business.
Staff attitudes affect the cash flow, so if you have the authority, ensure that all your colleagues are wearing their best smiles too. Develop a robust company-wide report with those you serve, and your business may also double as a community hotspot where all are welcome.
