How to Successfully Make a Sale

If you’re like most sellers, silence drives you crazy. 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.

Am I right? Research shows that the average salesperson, after asking a question, waits no more than two or three 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.

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. 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 is 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 yourself? 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 first 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’s really hurting our sales? What could we do differently here to drive more business?”

A flurry of ideas pops into their minds: “New products would help. Our salespeople could really use some training on how to sell in a tough economy. It would really help to have more advertising. Leads! We desperately need better quality leads. And all this new Sales 2.0 technology—I’m not even sure what impact that could have right now, but everyone says it’s the way to go.”

But all that thinking still hasn’t produced an answer. The salesperson asked for “one single thing,” not a litany of responses. Now decision-makers need to quickly ascertain which of these ideas would have the maximum 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 eight to ten seconds to formulate the start of their answer. And once they get talking, they think of more ideas, firm up their thinking and gain additional clarity as well. So when you cut them off at only two to three seconds, you lose in more ways than you can imagine:

You don’t get the benefit of your questions. If you had just kept your mouth shut a little bit longer, you would have found out so much more. You might learn what they’ve already done to try to address these challenges. You might find out who the major players are who would be involved in any change initiative or what your competitors are doing.

It’s harder to sell. When you don’t learn all this information, you don’t know how your offering can make the biggest difference to your customer. It’s virtually impossible to align your value proposition, presentations or proposals with their primary business initiatives or most urgent priorities.

You’re viewed as self-serving. Besides that, your customer thinks that you’re only interested in achieving your own objectives. (Isn’t that what you think when people keep cutting you off?) When you fail to establish a positive relationship, decision-makers don’t care 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—how they’re going to wow their prospect with their depth of knowledge or their well-rehearsed pitch.

Instead, I suggest that you try a bit more silence. To do that, you need to plan some provocative questions ahead of time. This frees up your mind and enables you to really focus on your prospect. Then, when you’re meeting with the decision-maker, ask your question, lean back and start counting to yourself. Start at one thousand one and keep right on going. The counting keeps you from interrupting. That’s why you have to do it.

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.

Ultimately, 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. And you’ll increase your sales.

Silence is powerful: Give it a try.

JILL KONRATH is the author of Selling to Big Companies (Kaplan Business, 2005) and a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings and conferences.