S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

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Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the September, 1972 issue of the Real Estate News Observer.

If a real estate counselor knows what silence can do to people, there is a very good technique that he should use. Silence causes people to become frustrated, nervous, irritable, self conscious, and almost forces one to talk. The writer has proven this many, many times.

So, if a real estate counselor is having a counseling session with someone who might become a client (which we call a client-applicant), and while listening to the client-applicant, the counselor feels he is not getting the right story or all the facts …… during the conversation (which, of course, is mostly listening on the part of the counselor) at that given point, the counselor just stops talking and keeps quiet for a few seconds.

The effect of this action on the “might-be” client is such that he has to talk. And, out come all the words the counselor has been waiting for. Often, the one being counseled will even talk about things that don’t particularly pertain to the subject. In most cases, the facts that the counselor has been waiting for will now come out because of guilt feelings of frustration, nervousness, and apprehension on the part of the one being counseled.

Try it yourself sometime just to see how beautifully it works. The writer never has had this technique fail when he has used it. Those of you who will do this in counseling will have a much easier time in getting the information you need at the time needed. The information will be more accurate, and the client will talk his head off.