Silence isn’t just golden, it’s the best way to get answers. That’s the first thing salespeople learn and the one that the best salespeople practice, no matter what else they do. Silence can get answers from your kids, from bosses, from the most non-communicative person in your organization.

But it’s one of those tools that you need to use correctly and avoid over-using.

I recommend using it only when you ask a closing question, i.e., a question to which you absolutely need an answer, not every question that comes up in a discussion.

It works like this, you ask a closing question, and then you shut up.

That’s right, after you ask the question you don’t say another word.

This is old wisdom that sounds easy, but is much harder to do in practice, because once you ask, the silence, and the pressure, start building.

And humans, especially these days, tend to fill silence, so if the other person doesn’t respond immediately the void is filled with explanations of what was meant, rephrasing, and, worse, another question.

The problem is that the minute you say anything else, the other person is off the hook and won’t respond to the original question—assuming they even remember it.

Try it, you won’t be disappointed.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Business info, Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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