Touring the country with my sales seminars and customer service training programs, I came across a gentleman from Kentucky who spoke unusually slowly.

He was my program sponsor, so I was particularly interested in cultivating his good will, yet I found the temptation to try to speed him up nearly irresistible.

I would almost automatically machine gun back “uh-huh” and “right” and “okay” and other words of feedback to encourage him to pick up the pace.

When I did this, he slowed down, even more!

Finally, I gave up, or rather gave in, to his pattern.

I forced myself to relax, to allow him to mosey along at whatever pace was comfortable for him.

And from that moment on, we got along like the best of pals.

Too often, as salespeople, we’re rushing for no good reason. Instead of calibrating our tempo to our prospects, we push them without knowing it, merely through our speed of vocal delivery.

And, as you know, most prospects are wary of “fast-talkers,” concerned that we’re trying to slip something by them.

So, inadvertently, we create barriers to communication, needless hurdles, because unconsciously we’ve allocated only so much time to speak to every prospect.

By slowing down, we can avoid this problem, while creating the kind of atmosphere in which customers can relax, and many of them welcome the opportunity, and reward us for doing so with their business.

So, slow down.

And your order taking will probably speed up!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com