The Sounds of Selling

Many salespeople are afraid of silence. To ease their anxiety, they fill the gaps with nonwords, meaningless phrases and noise.

Below are some common fillers and sounds people use to string words, sentences, even paragraphs of dialogue together to eliminate uncomfortable silences.

1. single syllable sounds: uh, um, ah, eh, oh.
2. sometimes these are combined with connecting words: and uh, so um, but ah, like eh.
3. a word or group of words that add nothing to the meaning of the sentence: you know, you see, well so then, ya understand, so really, ok?
4. hedge words: I guess, maybe, perhaps.
5. qualifiers: just, that’s all, only
6. noises: throat clearing, shuffling, tongue clucking, sighs, yawns, coughing, chuckling.
Many clients will judge your level of confidence and product knowledge by the fluency of your speech. They will interprets fillers and sounds as nervousness or uncertainty. Your clients won’t care whether you’re using them because of nervousness or habit – they’ll simply get a bad impression. Here’s how you can improve your sounds of selling.

Step One – Eliminate fillers. Ask your family and friends to listen for fillers when you are talking. Have them stop you in mid-sentence every time you use one. This may ruin the flow of a conversation, but it will make you keenly aware of how often you rely on these verbal crutches. Soon you’ll be stopping yourself before the nonwords or sounds are out of your mouth.

Step Two – Add silence. Ronald Reagan is a master of the purposeful pause. He knows that it gets the listener’s attention and gives the speaker an increased image of credibility. A slight pause between important statements has a wonderful effect on clients as well. They will believe that you are intelligent, analytical and confident. Another plus is the opportunity you give to your client to make comments and ask question. Instead of not being able to get “a word in edgewise,” the buyer will feel that his opinions are being taken seriously. (However, customers can be afraid of silence, too. They may feel compelled to fill up the pauses themselves, thus giving you more information about their interests and concerns.)

One more advantage to using silence is this: it gives you a change to listen. You understand more clearly what the client is saying, and can think about what you are going to say in a more relaxed manner if you aren’t worried about what you are going to say in a more relaxed manner if you aren’t worried about immediately filling every little pause. Silence is a powerful selling tool. Use it to make a good impression, gain information and listen to the buying sounds of your customer.

This Selling Tip was condensed from the new book Noverbal Selling Power, by Gerhard Gschwandtner with Pat Garnett.