When we talk about “communication”, we will immediately imagine about how to speak in public , interact in conferences or seminars, hold work meetings with clients or business partners, and so forth. If you pay attention, all of these communication activities use our “mouth” to answer questions, presentations , negotiations , and also get acquainted.
Apparently, not all situations can be resolved with answers from our mouth. There are 3 main situations in communication that we don’t need to answer with any words from our mouths. In other words, these 3 conditions strongly encourage us to keep our mouths shut and not say anything. Instead of talking, we encourage fellow readers to listen more to what they say when they are in these 3 communication situations.
When there is not a word that we put out in this situation, it does not mean we lose, do not understand, or do not care about what our interlocutors say. However, closing your mouth to not say anything is the best and most politely solution in these 3 communication situations.
Do fellow readers want to know what communication situations we mean? If “yes”, let us refer to the following explanation.
1. Close Mouth when Meeting with Potential New Clients.
When we want to hear more, the solution is to stop talking and listen carefully to the other person. In the world of business and work, clients are valuable business partners. When we are dealing with potential prospective clients, then we need to listen to all expectations, complaints, praise, or whatever they say to us.
If we want to promote something to prospective clients related to our products or services, that’s okay. However, don’t dominate the conversation that occurs between you and this potential client. Just say a few important things, and shut our mouth by listening to everything said by prospective clients.
That way, they will feel very valued by us because we have taken the time to listen to whatever they say. This attitude is very important to apply to situations of communication like this. Indirectly, we highly respect the position of our potential clients.
2. Close your mouth when dealing with angry clients.
Although we are very sure that our products or services are the best. In fact, if we believe that the customer service that our business provides always gives the best response to our customers, there will still be angry clients or customers complaining about our products and services.
When this situation we are facing, do not plunge ourselves into a dangerous pit that is, answering all the words of clients who are angry. Just close your mouth and listen to everything that is said by our client.
When you’re angry, no one wants to be intervened. People who are angry tend to want to be heard, not answered. They want the other person to be aware of and understand the reasons why they are angry. In other words, they want their hearts to be heard by others.
In addition, angry clients also want their problems resolved immediately. So, if we actually answer or refute all their talks, this is the same that we do self-defense and do not want to help solve their problems.
Listening to complaints and scathing criticism from angry clients in person or by telephone is far better, than reading negative reviews from them on social media. Well, we better listen to them and immediately try to solve the problem directly right?
In essence, just listen to whatever the client has to say about our products and services. The more we try to justify existing perspectives, policies, or situations, the client will be more angry.
3. Close Mouth When Interviewing Someone.
This is the third communication situation that requires us to keep our mouths shut and listen more to the other person. When we interview someone, it is certain that before we have screened great candidates through resumes and job application letters. So when the candidate is in front of us, it would be better if we provide both ears to listen more carefully to their answers.
Close our mouths and give them special time to tell us everything we need. Eits! But that does not mean we have to be passive and just say yes. We can open our mouths when candidates have completed their answers, or when they have a number of company-related questions for us.
Shut up when candidates are answering and explaining their work experience can help us to measure the extent of their interest in the company and the job positions they are applying for. In addition, they will also have the opportunity to tell stories and express themselves outside the resume. That way, we can judge whether the candidate really fits our company or not.
