Sales Coach

Drill 7 · 2 min

The silence after price

Start the drill

Why it matters

Here is the moment that costs techs more money than any other. You say the price, and the customer goes quiet. Most people can't stand that quiet.

Within two or three seconds they start talking: explaining the price, apologizing for it, offering financing, or worse, knocking a hundred dollars off. Every one of those tells the customer the number was soft. Here is what is really happening in that silence.

The customer is doing math. They are thinking about their budget, their week, what their spouse will say. They are not rejecting you.

The silence belongs to them. Your job is to say the price clearly, once, and then wait. Count to five in your head if you have to.

Let them speak first. When they do, you will learn exactly what they are worried about, and that is the conversation you actually need to have. In this drill, you will say the price, and the customer will go quiet.

Hold it.

How it sounds

  1. Tech

    For the standard option, everything included, it comes to eighteen ninety.

  2. Customer

    (six seconds of silence) Hm. That's more than I was hoping.

  3. Tech

    I understand. What were you hoping it would be closer to?

  4. Customer

    Well, I don't know. I'm on a fixed income, you see.

  5. Tech

    Thank you for telling me. Let's look at what fits. Would a monthly number help?

To pass

  • State the price once, clearly, without apologizing
  • Wait at least four seconds before speaking again
  • When the customer speaks, ask about their reaction before defending the price

Your customer

Margaret Ellis

Retiree on a fixed income

Say the price for the standard option, $1,890, then stop talking.

The drill picks up mid-call. Margaret already knows why you are there.