Why Is Listening So Hard For Sales Professionals?

Why Is Listening So Hard For Sales Professionals?
leadershipteam
Thu, 05/23/2019 – 09:47
We’ve all heard the phrase, “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.”  The inference is that we should all listen more and talk less. This isn’t a new revelation or even close to thought leadership.
However, listening is a continuing challenge most sales organizations continue to deal with as they try to prevent ‘show-up and throw up’ sales meetings. There are several reasons that salespeople struggle with listening skills.
#1:  Focus. Listening requires paying attention and paying attention requires focus. In an increasing distracting business environment, people are losing their ability to pay attention, focus.
Look around and you will observe many examples of extreme UNFOCUS. Salespeople are constantly checking anything that beeps or lights up and as a result, focus skills decline as does their ability to pay attention and listen. If a salesperson has not