One of the hardest things to teach salespeople is when to shut up.
The bad salesperson doesn’t know when to speak up, the good salesperson too many times fails to shut up.
When the good salesperson learns the art of shutting up, he or she becomes a great salesperson.
When you shut up, it becomes the customer’s time to react. This reaction does a lot more for you than your ongoing words would. Reading the customer’s body language when you shut up will tell you if to continue, back up, or stay quiet.
When you shut up you give your customers the opportunity to ask a question, show interest or dis-interest, present an objection or to buy.
The secret to great selling is; “Speak Up, Shut Up, Observe and Mirror”. Say something, read the reaction and then act as the customer does. It’s Easy!

Nobody likes hearing the word “No”, especially salespeople. “Rejection” is painful, and most people will go to great lengths to avoid hearing it. They will even accept it to keep from hearing it. People in nightclubs fear asking an attractive person to dance, and consequently fail to get a dance. Salespeople avoid prospective customers that they fear won’t buy. They don’t get the sale.

When you master the art of turning “No” into “No, not yet” you will get more dances and make more sales. In retail customers will say, “I’m just looking” merely to buy some time before dealing with the salesperson. If the salesperson hears that as, “No”, nothing else is likely to happen. In outside sales, some customers say, “I’ll get back to you” when the reality is they do not intend to. When salesperson knows that and say’s, Okay”, the presentation and sale are over.

It’s up to the salesperson to make the switch from, “No” to “No, not yet”. To do that means that you must be willing to hear, “No” if in fact that’s the truth. Pressing for a “Yes”, when “No” is certain you will turn the customer off to you. The secret is pretending that the customer said, “No, not yet”, remove the pressure and then search for the real reason why it is not “Yes”.

Use what I call the “Okay but…” method to make this transition. Say something like, “Okay, but MAYBE this just isn’t the right one for you. What is it that MIGHT NOT be right?” You will be amazed at how many times you will hear the customer say, “Well, to tell you the truth…” Yes, buyers are liars. When you get the true objection out, you can many times overcome it with another size, a different item, or a lower price point. In the outside sales situation you could say, “Okay, but perhaps this is not the best time to explore all of the options, when could we meet again?”

Don’t buy, “I’m just looking”; everyone is looking, but not JUST looking. Don’t accept “I want to think about it”, without finding out what it is that the customer really needs to think about. Be willing to hear, “No” and you will be surprised at how many times you will hear, “Yes”.