How many of you have heard the saying “SILENCE IS GOLDEN”? I would guess that just about every one of you has. As a parent I can remember back to when my daughters were young and how strongly I believed this. However, today, as a sales rep and sales trainer I don’t enjoy silence as much as I used to.
We have all been in the situation with a customer where we were giving our presentation and we are waiting for the customer to reply to a statement we made and the reply doesn’t come! Instead we find ourselves looking at the customer looking at us in dead silence.
Seconds seem like minutes and minutes seem like hours. If you don’t believe me, try this, next time someone in your family asks you a question instead of answering immediately just look at them and start counting to yourself – one thousand one – one thousand two – one thousand three…. It won’t take long before you realize how awkward it is (usually by one thousand five) and don’t answer then, keep counting until you hit one thousand ten. That will be about 10 seconds, by then you should both feel VERY uncomfortable and you will realize what 10 seconds of silence is. It will feel like a decade!
At that very moment you will know that “Silence is NOT golden”
What can we do to stop these moments of seemingly endless silence? Come on, the answer is easy.. SAY SOMETHING! I know that many of you still believe in the old fashion rule of the first one to talk will lose. Oh come on, I hate to be the one to break the news but there is no Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause doesn’t exist, super heroes are only in comic books, and babies are don’t get delivered by storks!
When there is dead silence in a sales presentation it is the same as a customer saying tell me a little more and help me make a decision. Sure, if the silence is only a few seconds they are thinking, but anything over 5 seconds and they need answers.
A great way to move the sale along is a 5 to 10 second silence say to the customer, “I can hear your hesitation, is there something that I may not have explained well enough? Please let me know so I can give you all the information you need to make a good decision. You may have another statement you like to use, no problem as long as it gets the sale moving in a positive direction and breaks the silence.
A silent customer is almost impossible to sell. As reps we need some information so we can show the prospect the value of our product or service. Without information we find ourselves shooting in the dark at a target we can’t see, using ammo that we don’t know is affective.
If all you hear is silence make some noise and go after the sale!
Lorin
No comments:
Post a Comment