{"id":6324,"date":"2010-09-18T07:38:31","date_gmt":"2010-09-18T12:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/37d57f8fa2.nxcli.io\/blog\/?p=6324"},"modified":"2010-09-16T08:15:47","modified_gmt":"2010-09-16T13:15:47","slug":"silence-in-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/sales\/silence-in-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Silence In Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I spend Fridays in an upbeat little caf\u00e9 meeting with prospects and customers and sales training team members. Last week, I asked my newest team member, Molly, to join me in a meeting with a prospect while I introduced him to the customer retention tool I use. At the end of the meeting I asked Molly for some feedback.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">She said, \u201cI\u2019m amazed how little you talked! You asked a couple questions then sat back and just listened intently while the prospect talked.\u00a0 He told you all the reasons he needs what you offer and you hardly said a thing!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Her comments would have been music to my mentor\u2019s ears. If he told me once, he told me a hundred times,\u00a0 <strong>\u201cBecome a master of asking questions, then close your mouth and listen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/sales-silence.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6325\" title=\"sales silence\" src=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/sales-silence.jpg\" alt=\"sales silence\" width=\"150\" height=\"86\" \/><\/a>carefully to the answers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">No matter what industry or line of work you\u2019re in, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/sales\/6-business-marketing-ideas-to-ramp-up-sales-today\/\">sales<\/a> advice will serve you well. <strong>One of the biggest mistakes we make in human interaction is we talk way too much. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Sure, we might ask a question or two, but if the person doesn\u2019t respond within 4.3 seconds, the silence becomes unbearable and we start talking again. Big mistake \u2013 especially if you\u2019re a sales professional.\u00a0 Learning the art of asking questions and actively listening is essential for sales people, and so is being comfortable with the silence between the two.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Not quite there yet? Try this sales tip the next time you\u2019re meeting with a prospect or client.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Ask a great sales question then close your mouth and put a soft, expectant smile on your lips. (Imagine zipping your lips shut if you have to.) Then, focus on your breathing, in and out.\u00a0 If that doesn\u2019t calm you right down and get you comfortable with the silence, recite this little sales mantra (not out loud!) a colleague created, \u201cThe more you say, the less you make.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8211; <em>Colleen<\/em><\/p>\n<table style=\"text-align: left;\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"8\" cellpadding=\"8\" width=\"450\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"450\" height=\"0\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#ececec\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/colleen-kilpatrick\/\">About Colleen Kilpatrick<\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mfsstore.com\"><strong><br \/>\nRelated Resources<\/strong><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/author\/ckilpatrick\/\"><br \/>\nMore Posts by Colleen Kilpatrick<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To discover the easy and inexpensive ways <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">anyone can attract more clients and maximize their profits<\/span>, sign up for your<strong> <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/profitrules-es.html\">FREE <\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/profitrules-es.html\">Profit Now <\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/profitrules-es.html\">Report<\/a>. <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I spend Fridays in an upbeat little caf\u00e9 meeting with prospects and customers and sales training team members. Last week, I asked my newest team member, Molly, to join me in a meeting with a prospect while I introduced him to the customer retention tool I use. At the end of the meeting I asked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[384],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}