Reading People

Your ability to read people is key to your negotiations and to your relationships.

Our training events have taken us across Europe, onto radio in the USA and we have trained over 6500 people from 29 countries, including the British Parliament, but it all began with monks, Formula 1 racing and an inspiring trip to the hairdressers…

Back in September 1995 I flew off to India to live in a Tibetan monastery to teach English to the monks. I had just finished school and I wanted to travel, before becoming an actor.

The challenge I was faced with was that the monks I went to teach didn't speak any English. They spoke Tibetan, Nepali and Hindi, so we couldn't communicate with words! I had to rely on body language to survive.Over 6 months I taught them all how to speak English, using my body language and they taught me how to speak Nepali. I was amazed and forever changed by the experience.

When I got back to the UK I set about pursuing my professional acting dream. Fortunately for me, the acting school I attended put a lot of focus on body language and the physical side of acting, showing us how to stand, walk and gesture in a way that would have the strongest impact on an audience.

I soon got an agent and began doing TV commercials. One day when I was "between jobs" I found a great way to make some extra income.My agent got me an audition with the McLaren Formula 1 racing team. They wanted my help delivering presentations and meetings for their sponsors and clients. Although this may seem like a dream job to most men, I knew absolutely nothing about motor racing, business or cars in general (I actually blew up my own car a week before this interview because I forgot to put water in the engine - it melted and the mechanics had never seen anything like it!)

The McLaren team had faith that my acting and body language skills would be useful in the world of business, so they gave me a 20 page script of technical information to learn and deliver on their behalf. This temporary job turned into speaking at over 1000 events and VIP meetings for them.

Meanwhile, my hairdresser, Tony, was fascinated with my body language experience. He offered to give me a free haircut if I did some coaching for his trainee haidressers. They needed help with confidence and interpersonal skills and he thought I could show them what to do. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to teach them, but I always enjoyed a challenge!

I racked my brains for weeks and came up with a two hour workshop for them. Nervous at how they would respond, I coached the streetwise teenage hairdressers and to my delight they loved it so much they wanted another session. Body Talk training was born.

Soon they were talking to their customers about what I was doing. One of them was running an exhibition and needed some coaching for his team, so they gave him my number. He called me asking how much it would be to coach 20 engineers. Before I could say, "Well, I usually do it for a free haircut…" I decided to ask if I could call him back.

I needed advice on this opportunity, so I called my business guru - my Dad. He was over the moon! "Right, son," he said, "charge him some serious money, get yourself a company website and you can finally quit the acting stuff!" I couldn't blame him - after all, he had loaned me the money to go to acting school and was clearly impressed that I had finally found a way to use those skills to help pay him back!

I'll always remember the rush of extraordinary feelings I got after that session. "I'm getting paid to do this!!!" I thought. "And they loved it, and they all got great results!" The company felt they had got a bargain and I felt I had found my life purpose… empowering people with skills that are vital for success.

As soon as the website went live I got a call from the BBC wanting me for a secret TV project. Other calls quickly followed, including a strange request from Welsh Water. They have the difficult task of telling local residents that a sewer will soon be built next to their house. They wanted help presenting at important public meetings. It was time to call on the skills of a voice coach and I knew just the guy for the job.

One of my closest friends from school had become a West End singer, with an outstanding voice that made him runner-up in the global search for the greatest "Voice of Musical Theatre". He agreed to put his performance skills to use in business and after our first successful venture we became a popular double-act training team.

The work snowballed and soon our team of 10 trainers were in charge of training the chief medical experts from 21 countries at an international conference in Prague.

Highlights since then have included taking 40 business leaders to give speeches at Hyde Park Speaker's Corner (see our 'Body Talk Movies'), coaching celebrities to improve their TV interviews, helping a flamenco dancer pass her Grade 8 exam and training numerous people to successfully get job promotions, more respect and confidence.

We absolutely love training our clients. This is our passion, not just our profession, and we believe the results we achieve reflect the dedication we feel towards each person we work with.