One of the most important, yet often overlooked, communication tools is the pause — that brief moment of silence during a conversation, when the speaker intentionally stops talking.
The January issue of Customer Communicator, the training and motivation newsletter for frontline reps considers when and how to pause, as well as some benefits for reps and customers.
By pausing you give yourself time to truly understand and absorb what the customer is saying and to tailor your response to their needs. A pause of just a second or two is often enough. But if you feel uncomfortable with the silence, phrases like “hmm,” “let me see,” or “interesting” can bridge a pause while indicating you’re listening and considering what the customer said.
Pausing can also provide valuable processing time for customers. Generally speaking it takes twice as long for a customer to process your words as it takes for you to say them. Why? Because you are familiar with what you are saying. The customer is hearing it for the first time. Pausing gives the customer time to not only hear you and understand you.
Four more times it pays to pause appear in the January issue of Customer Communicator.