When we hear someone say, “He/she is an excellent communicator” we usually think of someone with succinct, clear, and powerful speaking skills. While these skills certainly do serve a vital role for the process of effective communication, we can quickly increase our communication and persuasion skills by learning how to consciously use communication tools that for the most part, are unconscious behaviors.

When meeting someone for the first time, long before we are close enough to shake hands, we have the opportunity to trigger something deep inside their mind; we can trigger the part of their brain that says, “I feel good about you!”

Scientists have long known about a powerful non-verbal expression that acts as an invitation for interaction, and subtlety but powerfully lets the other person know that you recognize them. The eyebrow flash is a behavior that is seen in every culture; whether it be tribesmen from the Amazon, or someone from one of the more sophisticated cultures on our planet, men, women and children can be observed quickly raising and lowering the eyebrows when recognizing someone they’re acquainted with.

A good way to bring this more fully into your conscious awareness is to simply watch other people, in a place they are likely to encounter someone they know and recognize. Realize that the people you are watching usually have no conscious awareness they are either “sending” or “receiving” the eyebrow flash, they are simply responding to this signal unconsciously.

Knowing that we automatically deliver the eyebrow flash when we see someone that we know, and desire to interact with, and, how powerfully this signal impacts those we deliver it to, we can choose to use it for a different, yet extremely useful purpose.

Let me suggest that you begin using the eyebrow flash with people you don’t yet know, but would like to. You’ll want to use it from a distance at least six feet, and as far away as someone can visually register the signal, like from across the room, or from the other end of an isle in a grocery store.

As you begin consciously using the eyebrow flash, you’ll be delighted to notice how open people become towards you. I often walk through the grocery store eyebrow flashing anyone who happens to make eye contact with me. The result is nothing short of amazing; people smile, and you can observe them physically relaxing their posture, often initiating a conversation with me.

The eyebrow flash is very fast, consisting of a rapid rise and fall of the eyebrows, followed by a smile.

A word of warning: The eyebrow flash is such a powerful unconscious signal, that unless you want to send a message of a potentially hostile interaction, you should always respond to the eyebrow flash initiated by others by gently acknowledging them too.