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Many historians believe the tradition of shaking hands began inmedieval Europe, where a person (typically a man) would offer anewly met stranger his right hand to show it held no weapon.
The handshake has since evolved into the polite greeting we knowtoday, but a recent study conducted by Dr. Allen Konopacki of theIncomm Center for Trade Show Research in Chicago indicates thehandshake is far more than a simple gesture--it's actually thebeginning of a relationship.
With the help of a group of students, Konopacki conducted anexperiment in which a quarter was left in the coin return of apublic telephone. If a stranger took the coin after using thephone, a student would walk up and ask whether the person had seenthe quarter. The result? Sixty percent of the 75 people asked liedto the students and said they had not seen the quarter.
In the next series of 75 confrontations, the students introducedthemselves with a handshake before asking about the quarter.Surprisingly, less than 15 percent of the strangers lied to thestudents.
The study concluded the handshakes had improved the quality ofthe interaction, producing, as Konopacki says, "a higherdegree of intimacy and trust within a matter of seconds."
This "handshake effect," as Konopacki refers to it,also applies to salespeople. "If a person walks into a storeor an exposition and is greeted with a handshake," he says,"he or she is more likely to remember the exhibit and spendmore time with the salesperson, who ends up getting a betterquality contact or lead."
Contact Source
Incomm Center for Trade Show Research, (312) 642-9377,http://www. tradeshowresearch.com
