You’re sitting with a prospective client, discussing their situation. You describe the options, risks, and benefits of each solution and answer their questions. You can tell they’re interested, but when it comes time to do the paperwork, they tell you they want to think about it.

What went wrong?

It could be a lot of things. But sometimes, it’s because you kept talking.

They were interested and ready to go, but instead of handing them a pen and showing them where to sign, you kept giving them more information. You gave them more to think about and they got confused or frightened and backed away.

It happens. We have an obligation to make sure they know everything they need to know so they can make an informed decision.. And we don’t want to pressure them.

But when the client is ready, we have to STFU and hand them a pen.

Yesterday, my wife and I went to a phone store to get some information about one of their plans. We walked out with a new plan and two new phones.

In part, because the salesman knew when to stop talking.

At one point, he told us about the cameras in the different models. When I told him this wasn’t important to us, he stopped talking about them. When he told us about the extended care option and I shook my head, he moved on.

He didn’t push. He didn’t tell us what he wanted us to know, he listened and told us what we wanted to know. And when we were ready, he handed us a pen. (A stylus, actually).

The client tells you what you need to know and what you need to say to make the sale. We just have to listen.

Sometimes, that’s hard to do for people who earn their living explaining and persuading, but that’s the challenge.

Get it right and we get a new client. Get it wrong and they say they want to think about it.

Here’s the formula for building a successful practice