The Sales Archaeologist

This series of articles offering a helpful sales tip for the month has been getting some great feed-back – so thanks, glad to know it has been helpful!

This month I wanted to talk about something that has caused sales people problems for a long time. The problem is a tendency or sometimes a habit of saying something when they should really say – nothing. The effect of a silent pause on most sales people is panic and fear, they seem to feel that silence would show they are not in control or that they are poorly informed, shouldn’t they have an instant answer for just about every question? When combined with the other reasons why people talk the combination can ruin conversation and push most meetings in the wrong direction.

And as you know by now salespeople already have a habit of talking too much

Silence should actually be used by sales people to facilitate thought – on both sides. When your prospect gets quiet it means they are thinking and that you have drilled beneath the surface and you are now asking questions that nobody else has asked (like the competition)

Silence on the part of the sales person tells the prospect that you are not some smooth quick talker and that is the last type of person most people want to deal with. They start to realize that you are a real person and so what if you take a minute to think out your next answer or your next question. Usually silence is made easier and less uncomfortable if people know why there is silence. So try this – tell them!

• Let me digest what you just said.
• I don’t usually get asked that question.
• I hope you don’t mind me thinking about my answer a little?
• My tendency is to just blurt something out but I want to make sure I answer your point properly.

Silences can serve as padding, they can become excellent transitional moments that allow you to change topics and they are perfect for testing the quality of the business relationship that you have developed.

Make an effort on your next sales call to actually have an intentional moment of silence, watch what happens. Let me know how you make out?