Skip Anderson had a good post on the “Over-Talker”, the sales person who talks too much. A sales over-talker is BRUTAL. They’ll drive a meeting into the ground. As a sales guy I get it. I used to be know for a good pontification in my day. My kids and BigE will tell you I’ll still kill with the word. No one likes the over-talker.

Skip gives a nice list of strategies to give your audience a break. He suggests:

1) Add two full seconds of silence
2) Record a sales transaction
3) Role Play
4) Self Edit

Its a good list. But, I think it’s much simpler than this. If you want to stop yapping, then start asking questions. Long winded, over-talking only happens when you are making statements. You can’t over talk if your asking questions. Questions are short. They are to the point. They allow your audience to over-talk and in sales that is EXACTLY what you want.

If you want to stop yapping. If you don’t want to be an over-talker. Stop telling and start asking, it’s that simple.