In a conversation, be it for a sales call or a recruiting pitch, one of the best things you can do is pause and say absolutely nothing. My instinct has always been to fill gaps of silence with rambling. Quietness is awkward and unsettling. What I am realizing, more and more, is that pausing and allowing the other person to occupy the silent space is a far more effective strategy for multiple reasons.
This is a nuanced skill. Of course you do not want to be taking forever to speak. But what pausing does, however, is give you insight into how the other person thinks, prioritizes, and speaks.
Anyways, this essay is definitely a short anecdote but certainly an interesting tactic that I have not mastered. Les is mor.
Also published on Medium.