The Power Of The Pause On A Sales Call
According to research from Gong, in which they analyzed 67,149 sales call recordings, they found that top-performing sales reps actually pause 5x longer (~1.5 seconds) than they’re average-performing peers (~0.3 seconds).
This research specifically focused on the part of the sales call immediately after the prospect has given the rep an objection.
In this post, we’ll focus on four appropriate times to pause during a sales call:
- After asking a question
- After asking for the sale
- After hearing an objection
- When waiting for your prospect to finish talking
But first, let’s think about how pausing relates to a broader topic, tone.
How pausing relates to tone
In a previous post, we discussed the three parts of tone:
- Tempo
- Pitch
- Volume
More specifically, pauses are related to tempo.
Because tempo is the speed at which a passage of music (or the sound of your voice) is played (or spoken). Pausing stops the tempo.
In a sales conversation, these pauses play a crucial role during transitions (points in the conversation when the opportunity to speak switches from one person to the other).
Asking a question
One of the most common transitions occurs right after you’ve asked your prospect a question.
For example, when you’ve asked your prospect an open-ended qualifying question, a long pause gives your prospect the necessary space in the conversation to provide a detailed answer.
The first question might sound something like this:
“So, Mrs. Business Owner, tell me a little more about why you think you might be in the market for XYZ product?”
And then, immediately after that question, comes the most important part … PAUSE. Don’t say anything. Put the phone on mute if you have to.
If you can’t handle the silence here (for 5 seconds, maybe 10 seconds) and you start talking again, then you’ve lost all power in the sales encounter—making it a one-sided presentation, instead of a two-sided conversation.
Asking for the sale
There is another very crucial part of the sales encounter when it’s your prospect’s turn to talk, and that’s at the very end of the call—when you ask for the sale.
If you’ve done everything right up to this point—building rapport, qualifying, showing value—then there is only one thing left to do, and that’s to unveil the price and ask for payment.
Ask clearly and confidently for the close, and then (you guessed it) … PAUSE.
Sometimes you can hear the prospect huffing and puffing. Other times they’ll put their hand over the receiver and talk to their business partner that has been sitting there listening the whole time.
But no matter how long you wait, the prospect only has two options for what to say next: they can either (1) give you an objection, or (2) sign the deal.
It has to be one of these two, and the only way to mess that up is if you talk first.
Hearing an objection
According to the research from Gong mentioned above, one particular part of the sales calls when successful reps tend to pause for longer is after hearing an objection.
It makes sense, if you think about it. You don’t want to be reactionary, responding too fast, and making it seem like you’re surprised or unprepared.
Instead, you want it to seem like you’ve heard this objection a hundred times and you’re not phased by it. This is the idea given to the prospect if you pause and talk slow with a sense of calm after hearing their objection.
It’s like the difference between a seasoned sergeant and a private fresh from the reserves, on the front lines of battle. The sergeant is standing up tall, his head above the trenches, smoking a cigarette, while bombs are falling all around. The private is huddled on the ground, clutching his rifle like a teddy bear, and shaking.
Unsuccessful reps are like the private, responding to objections (bombs) like they’ve never heard one before.
Waiting for your prospect to finish talking
A more subtle opportunity for a pause is when your prospect has finished talking, but they actually still have more to say. This often happens when your prospect is giving objections.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell when your prospect still has more to say. Instead of trying to guess, use this strategy: count to three-Mississippi whenever your prospect finishes talking, before you start talking again.
It may be uncomfortable at first, but these long pauses are a signal of confidence and they grant you control over the tempo of the conversation, while ensuring that you avoid interrupting your prospect when they still have more to say.
The only exception would be during a part of the conversation when you want to keep up a fast tempo, like when you are pitching.
While it may take some time to dial in your feel for the right times to pause on your own sales calls, you can start using the three-Mississippi strategy to immediately implement longer pauses into your own selling style.