The Power of Silence

"If you're like most sellers, silence drives you nuts," says sales expert Jill Konrath. "When you're talking with a prospective customer and there's a brief lull in the discussion, I bet you jump right in to fill it. Research shows that the average salesperson, after asking a question, waits no more than 2-3 seconds before rephrasing the question, answering it themselves or moving on to another topic. And my experience shows that normal sellers have NO idea that they're doing this." Does this sound like you? Read on!

Let me ask you a question: What is the one single thing that you or your company could do in the upcoming 12 months that would dramatically impact your sales?

(one thousand one ... one thousand two .. one thousand three)

I mean, if you really thought about it, what's causing you the most trouble in your sales efforts?

(one thousand one ... one thousand two ... one thousand three)

I've been studying a lot about the challenges that salespeople are struggling with these days. They're really having trouble getting their foot in the door of big companies. Once they're in, it's really difficult to get people to change from the status quo. And, because of today's business climate, corporate decision makers are so risk averse.

Are you finding that to be the case? Which of those issues are causing you the most frustration?

(one thousand one ... one thousand two ... one thousand three)

Have you thought about how you could make it easier for you? I mean, like what kinds of marketing initiatives you could undertake?

(one thousand one ... one thousand two ... one thousand three)

Okay. I'll stop now. Hopefully you got my point about the continual rephrasing and butting in that sellers do after they ask a question.

What I really wanted to point out is what was lost because of the lack of silence.

Here's the 1st question again: "What is the one single thing that you or your company could do in the upcoming 12 months that would dramatically impact your sales?"

That's a provocative question. Decision makers can't answer it with a simple pat answer.

It makes them stop and think, "Hmmmm. What would that one thing be? New offerings? More calls? Additional money in our marketing budget? Which would have the most impact?"

That's what you want them to do. Then when they answer you'll learn a whole lot about what's going on in their organization, what the big challenges are, the decision maker's perspective on the issues and solutions and so much more.

But they can't think of all that in just two or three seconds.

They need much longer to ponder the question, to play around with it in their mind and to sort through their options.

In fact, research shows they need 8-10 seconds to formulate the start of their answer. And once they get talking, they think of more ideas.

When you cut them off at only 2-3 seconds, you lose in more ways than you can imagine.

--You don't get the benefit of your good question. You never learn all the good stuff they could be telling you if you'd just kept your mouth shut a little longer.

--When you don't learn all this info, it's so much harder to sell anything because you don't know how your offering can make the biggest difference to your customer.

--Besides that, your customer thinks that you're self-serving and only interested in achieving your own objectives. (Isn't that what you think when people keep cutting you off?)

--You don't establish a positive relationship with the person, so they really don't want to meet with you again.

And all this happens because you don't know how to count beyond three.

The value of silence in selling is rarely talked about. Mostly people focus on what they're going to say.

Instead, I suggest that you try a bit more silence. Ask a question, lean back and start counting to yourself. Start at one thousand one and keep right on going.

If you hit one thousand ten and still don't have a response, then you can rephrase or interject something. But not before. At first you'll be absolutely miserable doing this. (This is the voice of experience talking!) Nothing will seem harder. You'll be squirming and dying to jump in.

Don't do it! Keep counting silently to yourself.

Your prospective customers will start talking. You'll learn a whole lot more. You'll strengthen your relationships. They'll think you're smarter, more credible and more caring.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and founder of the Sales Shebang, is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and industry events. For more articles like this, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get a bonus Sales Call Planning Guide.