How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 273

The Use of Silence
Sometimes the right word is no word. On occasion we need to remain
silent and let the other person talk. We have heard in sales that the first
one to talk after the close loses. After the persuasion process and the final
decision is ready to be made, make your proposal and shut up. The silence
is nerve-wracking, but it's a critical time to let the prospect make the
decision without you rambling on and on about the product or service.
How often have you noticed a sales rep overselling a product? You were
ready to make the purchase by handing over your credit card. The sales
rep felt you needed to know everything about the product and he started to
fill you in. This caused doubt to creep into your mind and you ended up
leaving, telling the salesman you would think about it. When someone has
been persuaded and convinced, there is no reason to say any more. Strike
when the iron is hot!
More communication is not necessarily better persuasion. In fact, the less
you talk, the smarter people think you are. The more you say, the more
common and less in control you appear. Many individuals try to impress
people with what they know by flaunting all their wisdom, but usually this
strategy is just a turn-off.
Using Vivid Language to Paint Pictures
Complete this imagination exercise with me: Pretend you are standing in a
beautiful, sunny kitchen. You reach across the counter and grab a bright,
juicy orange. You can feel it is heavy with sweet, ripe juice. You can
smell the delicious orange scent as you rub the oil of the skin on your
hand. Reaching for a knife, you slice the orange and begin to peel back
the skin. The aroma only becomes stronger as you tear the sections apart.
One of the sections drips bright, sticky orange juice over your finger. You
raise this juicy section to your lips and take a bite. As your teeth sink into
the orange, you feel the juice burst out and swish around your teeth and
tongue. The juice is incredibly sweet! You savor it a moment, cradling a
puddle on your tongue before swallowing.
Did your mouth water? Almost everyone's does. The extra-ordinary thing
is that if I had simply instructed you to produce saliva, you couldn't have
done it. The vivid picturing technique works far better than the command
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