According to research from the University of California Berkeley and the London School of Economics, women stand to profit, literally, from a few winks. (We know: that sound you heard was the collective eyeroll of every woman alive who’s ever smiled her way to a job offer.)

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Seriously though, as if ladymags haven’t beat this into your subconscious enough, flirting translates into imporant business skills like confidence, the researchers explain.

Two separate experiments backed up their claim. In the first, ladies who admitted to using their “social charm” were rated more effective at negotiating, but the charming dudes didn’t share that success rate. In the second, participants were asked to envision two different female customers buying a car. Shocker alert: the one who smiles warmly, looks the seller up and down, touches his arm, and playfully winks at him got $100 off the selling price, while the poor chick who just shook his hand and said nice to meet you got nada. It’s worth mentioning that female sellers weren’t moved by either of the women.

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So now the secret skill we’ve been hiding since time immemorial has been revealed. Bosses everywhere are thinking, Wait, she didn’t really mean all those sweet things and warm arm grabs? Thanks for nothing, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

[Live Science]

Yelena Shuster is an equal-opportunity flirter.