Using Silence in a Negotiation

Silence is a very effective tactic, particularly when used against people who can't stand silence.

Evaluate yourself. Can you live with silence? Here is a little test that we suggest in our negotiation skills training programs. It's called the 15 second telephone silence test.

Call a friend and tell them that you want to do an experiment. Both of you take out your watch and them try to stay silent on the phone for 15 seconds. See how it feels. Was it easy or hard?

Evaluate your own reactions to silence. If a customer is silent with you, will you rush in to fill the gap, even perhaps making concessions just to make sure that there is some verbal noise in the room?

On the other hand, can you use silence as a tactic? Can you be comfortable with silence long enough to get the customer to start talking again instead of rushing in to fill the gap yourself?

Silence really works. As associate of mine was in Mexico and was interested in a beautiful silver piece. She doesn't speak much Spanish, and when she asked what the price was, she was told it was about $500. That seemed too high to her, but before she could figure out the Spanish to tell the clerk she needed a lower price, the clerk was back offering it for $425, and before she could think of what to say again, the price came down further. At this point she figured it was best just to keep silent, as the clerk shuttled between her and the store's owner. She finally bought the piece for $270 without having ever uttered a word.

© Michael Schatzki - 2005. All rights reserved

Michael Schatzki is a master negotiator who, for over 20 years, has provided negotiation training and coaching for thousands of people in the U.S. and globally.

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