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“Without colors, we’d lose the perspective of our individuality.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert
“The New Shocking Truth About Using Colors In Negotiations”
Are you aware of how influential colors are in a negotiation? Colors impact a negotiation at a conscious and subconscious level. As an example, you’ll be in a banking environment shortly seeking a loan. Would a dark blue or gray suit and white shirt, along with a red tie serve you, or would you be better served wearing a brown or green suit, with a shirt slightly lighter than the suit and a bold tie? The answer is, it depends on the persona you want to project.
The following will give you insight about the impact colors have on a negotiation and the added signal they imply per the projection of who you are.
Red is associated with energy but it’s also paired with war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire, and love. You may have heard of the nefarious activities that occur in “red light districts”.
Most people first think of power when they consider the color red. You’ve heard of the power suit or the power outfit and it usually has red associated with it. Red is a dominating color. As an aside, men are drawn to red psychologically speaking more so than women. It’s part of the makeup of men.
Blue is associated with stability, trust, and loyalty. Blue has the connotation of someone who is wise, confident, smart, honest and faithful. “I’ll be true blue to her/him.” You’ve heard that expression in the past; blue conveys such sentiments because of its attributes.
Black indicates power, elegance, and formality. It also indicates death, evil, and mystery. We associate black with death and mourning. Men have to be very cautious about wearing an all-black outfit. A black suit and black shirt has a criminal connotation. All black has more of an indication of death, evil, and mystery than if you lightened it up by wearing some of the other accessory colors. The body language signal that you’re actually sending if you had on all black would be one of “Caution! Don’t get too close to me. You don’t know what I might be up to.” That’s the mystery aspect. Conversely, a woman who dressed in all black might be viewed as sophisticated. You’ll also notice when police officers or the National Guard are in a situation where they have to put down a riot they will have on all black attire because that’s intimidating.
Green is paired with money, nature, fertility, growth and harmony. Green is associated with freshness. It’s vibrant, healthy and good for you.
Yellow invokes joy and happiness. It also represents intellect and energy. Yellow injects that perspective into your mindset. People in an environment with a lot of yellow tend to get more excited. You might not want to put somebody with whom you are negotiating in a yellow room if you want to avoid excitement.
Purple conveys energy but it also has the components of blue from which energy stems, which is also found in the colors of red and orange. Along with that energy aspect, purple symbolizes power, nobility, luxury and ambition. It is associated with royalty.
Orange originates from red and yellow. In so doing the color of orange actually takes on some of the properties of red’s energy aspect and it takes on the property of the joy of yellow. Orange is associated with gaiety, happiness and the fun environment of tropical surroundings. Orange has the power to put you into a mood, a mindset, whereby you feel a little happier than you normally would.
White is associated with goodness, innocence, and purity. It also symbolizes safety along with cleanliness and it has the added value of depicting faith.
The way you attire yourself and your negotiation environment, based on the color combination you choose, adds or detracts from your persona. Thus, the better you coordinate your color scheme, the greater the subliminal message you’ll send per the image you wish to convey. When synchronized properly … everything will be right with the world.
Remember, you’re always negotiating!