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Allowing Silence
Spread the Word – Friends Don’t Let Friends Work With Bad Clients
  February 21, 2012
Sedona, Arizona
We’ve all felt that feeling…
You know, when you’re speaking with a client or a prospective client and the conversation starts to die.
You can feel the awkward silence coming.
And then it happens… dead air.
Our society doesn’t deal so well with silence.
“The system” has trained most people to make noise when the silence becomes too uncomfortable. If they don’t start talking, they create noise another way. Maybe they turn on the TV… or the radio… or they start to hum or clear their throat.
It’s kind of crazy when you observe just how deep this behavior is embedded in our culture.
The good news is that you can use this to your advantage in your business.
All you need to do is develop the ability to ALLOW silence.
When your client stops talking, don’t just jump in. Allow a pause. Sometimes allow a long pause.
Be OK with the silence.
Why is this valuable?
The magic of selling doesn’t have so much to do with what you say. It has more to do with what you allow your prospective client to say. Your ability to sell is directly related to your ability to create a situation that allows a client to buy.
The funny thing is, they will tell you how to do that. But they have to actually be talking. Which means, you have to NOT be talking.
The more they say the better the opportunity for you to understand their true wants and satisfy them.
This sounds almost too simple to be effective, so you’ll just have to try it and see what happens for you.
The next time you’re talking with a prospective client and you come upon a period of silence, don’t treat it like a mistake.
Treat it like the valuable selling opportunity it really is.
Allow it and see what happens.
See you next time,
Jason Leister
Editor, The Client Letter
Creating Success for Independent Professionals
ClientsSuck.net
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