The Economy of Words

If you walk around your local book store, you’ll see more than one piece of literature proclaiming the hidden truths of selling. Now, I myself, I’m a big blog reader. But regardless of where you get your information from, there is no shortage of people handing sales reps the “keys to the kingdom.” Most of the information is OK, but none of it is ground breaking.

This is because buyers have fairly similar purchasing processes. In this blog, I wanted to share one facet, that for me, is truly a “must do” in my sales mechanics.

Drum roll please ……………………………… Ready?

- Learn to Shut Up!

As a human, it’s natural to be uncomfortable with silence. Especially in our era of iPods, YouTube, XM/Sirius Radio, Direct TV and TiVo. There is noise around us all day long. In fact, CNN cut out on my Sirius Radio today and it seemed like the silence went on forever. I thought, “I paid that bill, right?”

On top of being human, most sales reps are extroverts. This isn’t because an extrovert intrinsically makes the best sales person, but because extroverts are more likely to be outgoing, talkers amongst strangers and a bit on the narcissistic side… just a bit. So because they aren’t afraid to go into the room (at least the first time), they sign up for the gig.

Let me stop here and say this, I have immense respect for the sale people who can really play the game. Those who are no nonsense people, able to be disciplined and focused enough to get up every day and make it happen. In no way am I picking on sales people, they are absolutely my favorite.

However, the sales meeting can’t be about the rep. And often, far too often, since that is their most comfortable subject, it is their “go to” punch. I’m not going to get to much into the mechanics of how we teach people to sell, but here is the point.

Be comfortable with silence.

For the sells people out there…

When its time for you to have your lips moving, ask good questions and convey compelling information that the prospect cares about or that impacts them directly. However,  make sure your lips aren’t moving to much in a sales meeting. I know, that can sound backwards, but trust me, its one of many keys. One of our consulting partners calls this, “The Economy of Words.”

The idea is, the more you talk, the less your words mean. So convey powerful truths when you open your mouth and when you don’t have something intelligent to say, keep the mouth closed.

And finally, speaking of closes. How ever you go about gaining commitments, let me toss this out there. When you have said your final words to gain a commitment, don’t open your mouth again unless you are asked a question. Be OK with that fifteen seconds of silence. It can be hard, but it will make all the difference in the world.

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