A side note, completely off-topic. In Japan, if the customer has stopped talking, you need to shut up as well. One of the reasons a lot of Western salespeople

A side note, completely off-topic. In Japan, if the customer has stopped talking, you need to shut up as well. One of the reasons a lot of Western salespeople get toasted over there is that they don't appreciate the value of silence. When you're negotiating a deal, and your client sits there silently, he is thinking, and watching you to see how you act. If you patiently wait and show that you are engaged in thought, this is good. If you keep offering more and more, just to close the deal, you will get taken to the cleaners. And, if you press things too hard, you will be shown the door, ever so politely. Just my two cents; seemed to fit, a little. grin