Even in the Before Time (remember those years before COVID?), buyers were moving away from salespeople and changing when and how sales conversations happened. In our first white paper, Window Into the Buyer’s Mind, we noted that 70.2% of B2B buyers interacted with buyers after they defined their needs (All That Glitters Is Not Gold, 2019 World‐Class Sales Performance Study). Speed up to 2024, and it is much more commonplace for sellers to be engaged in the last stages of a buying decision. Largely driven by the global pandemic, technological advancements, and changing economic conditions, B2B buyers are combining more self-directed buying experiences and expecting both personalization and an emphasis on looking for vendors who can act as partners rather than mere suppliers. This requires long-term relationships based on reliability and trust. 

The Evolving Role of Salespeople

Salespeople used to be part of the buyer’s education process, but that has shifted to a role more like trusted advisors and guides. With AI as a tool for buyers to get the necessary initial information, salespeople have to stop thinking about “selling” and more about the decision process. This sets the stage for why listening is more critical than ever.

What Are You Listening For?

Listening to understand involves listening for what is said and not said, which words are used, and the nonverbal behaviors like tone of voice, pace, and expressed emotions. Asking questions becomes more of a way to gather information and demonstrate reliability and trustworthiness.

Common Pitfalls in Listening

Many reps we coach and train report that they are good listeners. However, it is interesting to note how often these same reps shift the focus to their experience or accept answers at face value during roleplaying exercises. So, what is happening here? While many times these moments are really meant to build connection, they can feel tone-deaf and distancing. There are some common obstacles that can happen, even with the best listeners:

• Assessing and jumping to “knowing” what the prospect is describing.
• Presenting your product/service too early in the conversation can shut down the conversation and limit the information needed to tailor the sales conversation.
• Keeping to the surface without asking what the prospect thinks and feels about what they want and what that change would mean to them.
• Assuming that there are always pain points. Tversky and Kahneman discovered in their Prospect Theory that people actually make decisions for 2 reasons – a) avoid/lessen loss and b) maximize or realize gain.
• Reassurance can get in the way if a salesperson has not established value and instead talks about discounts, return policies, or the support that the Customer Success team will provide.

It is not that salespeople, or anyone, want to get in their own way. But listening to understand requires self-awareness and practice.

Move Towards Genuine Connections

While AI is a great tool, there is also an interesting trend emerging that was noted by Salesforce. There is an emphasis on building trust through more genuine human connection. But, to build human connections, listening skills have to be effective.

The connection between building human connections and listening skills lies in emotional intelligence. The reps in the roleplaying exercise were not trying to distance themselves. They were not accessing their emotional intelligence in a useful way. For the buyers of now and the future, developing strong emotional intelligence is going to be required as much as their technological intelligence. Empathy, patience, self-observation, and other aspects of emotional intelligence are the necessary tools of selling.

When you think about sales effectiveness at your organization, does it seem like you are close but just missing those unique elements that give you that competitive edge? Looking for a way to understand how your buyer thinks, decides, and reveals information? At The Nova Consulting Group, we believe that professional selling is a craft. With the Advanced Sales Conversation©, you have those missing elements that move your salespeople from competency to mastery. With our deep understanding of what makes and sustains high-performance organizations, we provide integrated solutions that do not replace your sales methodology and yet advance a progressive selling mindset. Be bolder, more insightful, and get results. To learn more about how to master the craft of sales and encourage sustainable high performance, call  (617) 933-7249 or email info@novaconsultinggrp.com.

Photo: Listening in Conversation_DanielFaro.jpg | Death to Stock