The Silent Close

[PrettyDecent]

Hey gents,

This is one that I've learned in sales, and the basic premise is this: after you ask a closing question, stay completely silent until the other person answers your question. Whoever talks first 'loses' (well, kind of... you'll both be better off if your intentions are good)

So in other words, you might have a situation that looks like this - a potential customer walks into a phone store. She has a few other competitors she might buy a plan from, but the sales rep does his best to convince her on his company's plan. After a bit of rapport-building and pitching, the salesmen makes his close...

Salesperson: So would you like to choose our $45 per month plan today?

Customer: (thinking to herself and rubbing her chin)

Salesperson: (fearing a potential 'no', the salesperson interjects) Well, there's no contract, so its totally up to you how long you're on for.

Customer: (now feeling the salesperson is trying to push her to buy while she was thinking about it, she gives a knee-jerk reaction to rebel) Alright...well, thank you for your time. I'll think about it!

And just like that, the salesperson has just lost a potential customer.

Instead, the situation should've looked a bit more like this:

Salesperson: So would you like to hop on board with our $45 per month plan?

Customer: (rubbing her chin) ...

...

...

(Silence still)

Customer: Um, yeah! Alright!

Salesperson: Great! Well, let's ring you up so we can get your new plan up and running.

During the silence, the customer was thinking to herself about the benefits of his company's plan, if she has enough money for the plan (or if not, how she can reallocate money from other parts of her budget to the plan), and whether its better than the others.

She's uncluttering her mind and continually thinking about the benefits of the plan, which emotionally compels her to say 'yes'.

Essentially, she's convincing herself to buy the plan.

If you interrupt that thought-process, you are not only stopping her from convincing herself, but you also come across as incredibly pushy. And she'll say 'no'.

This has useful applications in other areas of life as well, and I've seen it mentioned on the boards for the purposes of seduction through one of Anatman's very early LR's that you can read here:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4730

Hope this adds another useful tool in your arsenal, fellas

~Nick

 

[Mr.Rob]

Hey Nick thanks for the post, in needed time too!

I'm literally right about to hit my job of door to door sales to promote my cleaning business and this just might help.

However I'm thinking it could also work in the beginning before the close to get the customer investing.

I.E. guy knocks on door talks about his service briefly without being too specific, while being charming and warm in demeanor. Then taking a silence vow to allow the other person to think, and ask a question, hopefully inquiring further into the service. "Oh I'm glad you asked! I do xyz to your house and ..."

We'll see what happens!

-Rob

 

[PrettyDecent]

Oh, right on! Yeah, its perfect for a lot of sales situations. But it also has a lot of real-life applications as well - like, say, trying to get your friends to a nightclub, or when your attempting to pull a girl home.

That's cool though to see you've got your own cleaning shindig going. Are you starting from scratch yourself in your town? Got your permits and shit sorted out?

~Nick

 

[Mr.Rob]

Are you starting from scratch yourself in your town? Got your permits and shit sorted out?

Starting from scratch yeah, I've been door knocking for the past 5 hours (really hard to stay motivated for that long door knocking... like with seduction your at the club you can take breaks and it's a lot more fun. People open the door and typically hate you just because your at their door haha. I've been learning to go more for a soft sell and breaking people out of autopilot which worked better)

Permits and whatnot... no. Not yet at least. It's pretty unnecessary at the size of my current business. I really don't plan on getting it big enough for it to matter just need enough jobs to make some cashflow to help with college bills and extras.

I implemented your technique as follows:

Me: Yes sir I'm basically just getting the word out about my service...
Him: And what is it that you're selling?
Me: Oh I'm glad you asked! Well it's xyz

Basically instead of me doing all the talking I use the social pressure to get them investing into the conversation.

Thanks again for the tip/reminder!

-Rob

 

[Smith]

During the silence, the customer was thinking to herself about the benefits of his company's plan, if she has enough money for the plan (or if not, how she can reallocate money from other parts of her budget to the plan), and whether its better than the others.

Good technique PD! I kinda picked up on this in seduction. Glad someone finally put it down on paper with explanation When asking a girl out, it's better to just shut up and let her think than trying to talk your way into convincing her.