Along with the fine art of listening goes not only the art of conversation but the knowledge and wisdom to know when you've said enough.

I'll never forget a story my father, a longtime truck driver used to tell every now and then.

It seems to have been a common practice for truck drivers to take their trucks out of gear on the downhill side of a large mountain just across the Tennessee/Kentucky line along Interstate 75, and let the rig coast down the other side, saving fuel and also building up a pretty big head of speed.

On one such occasion Dad had kicked his truck out of gear about halfway down and was running, in his words, "just a little too fast for the speed limit."

Unfortunately that day for Dad, parked at the foot of the mounain was a Tenessee Highway Patrolman and his radar gun. Dad said he knew when he saw him that he was caught so he starting applying the brakes and pulled over to the shoulder just beyond the Trooper's car to wait for his fate.

The Trooper motioned for Dad to come back to his car and get in which he did and Dad, who was a pretty good talker when the need arose, started his story. "I know why you stopped me", Dad said, "and I know I was going too fast." "I'm really sorry to make you have to pull me over, I know you have better things to do and I know we truckers often don't show the respect we need to for you fellows."

"This has already been a good lesson for me," Dad continued, "I'm going to be watching my speedometer much closer and trying harder to be a better driver."

All this time the Trooper is just sitting there listening to Dad's speil and not saying anything.

Finally my father stopped talking and asked the Trooper a question; "Have I said enough yet?" he asked.

"I know sometimes you can say too much and I sure don't want to do that but you can also not say enough and I want to make sure I said enough." "So I'm asking you, have I said enough yet?"

Dad said the Trooper just continued to look at him for a few more seconds then he broke into a smile and said "You know I was fixing to write you a reckless driving ticket because you were going so fast but after hearing that story you just told and all those promises you made I think that was good enough." And with that Dad said he handed him his driver's license and logbook back and told him to get going and stay closer to the speed limit from then on.

My father retired from trucking and died in 2003 after a long and full life. He told lots of stories about driving his truck but I think the "Have I said enough?" story had the biggest impact on my real estate career.

Often when you're on a listing appointment or with a buyer and you're talking with them about pricing, condition, loans, or whatever, sometimes you've said enough and it become counter productive to say anything else. It's good to be able to know when you've reached that point.

Sometimes we need to stop talking and ask our prospects: "Have I said enough yet?"