How to Teach Empathy for Sales Teams

By Maria Geokezas, VP of Client Relations at Heinz Marketing
Can Empathy be taught?  Empathy has always been a necessary part of a successful sale.  Heck, I believe it’s a necessary part of being human, having happy relationships, being good at your job and leading a full life.  Before COVID-19 happened, empathy was taken for granted.
Now, however, in the midst of the pandemic, with the economy struggling and businesses feeling the pressure to keep selling, empathy has become the star of the show, the central tenant to every sales strategy.  Every marketing and sales strategy starts and ends with “sell with empathy”.
First, let’s start with the definition of empathy.  Merriam-Webster defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively