Learn to use “power pauses” to your advantage. “Being quiet is actually a very mature aspect of good verbal communication,” they add. “But although it sounds quite logical, people tend not to do it. Instead they insist on filling up the silence. That, however, is precisely what makes silence such a powerful tool for those who have the control to use it: other people will want to fill the gap of silence when you don’t. It becomes a question of who blinks first.”
For example when Patricia, a lab technician, went for a job interview, the employer was so impressed that he nearly offered her the job on the spot. “I got home from work and found a message on my voicemail,” she says. “I waited until the next morning to call him back, and he made an offer on the phone. The salary he proposed was much more than I was making, but rather than show my excitement, I paused to give the impression that I was thinking it over. Then just as I was about to accept his offer, he rushed in and made me an even better one!” Patricia’s lesson: Silence may indeed be golden.
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