Does your B2B sales team know how to identify what really matters?

It always sounds simple to do.

But do you know why stopping the urge to ‘tell’ and solve problems is such a big challenge for sales people, even for experienced industry professionals?

Research from the fields of social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and conversation science indicate there are 3 main factors that make it hard to switch from telling/solutions to exploring/listening.

1️⃣ low levels of self-awareness
2️⃣ the triggering of automatic habits
3️⃣ anxiety about handling potentially unfamiliar topics

The automatic response by experienced B2B sellers

In particular, for experienced professionals who are probably experts in their industry, neuroscience and habit research show that once a behaviour (such as being quick to focus on a solution) is well learned and rewarded it runs on automatic stimulus–response loops in the brain. These reactions become reinforced over time and are resistant to change.

For example, this type of stimulus-response can be triggered by the sales professional hearing the same issue they’ve heard so many times before. Due to their familiarity with the problem their brain automatically jumps to the solution they believe will work based on their prior experience. And they focus on telling their customer all about it.

But this is where more self-awareness and self-control may be needed.

Why?

Listening gives the floor to the customer. And this can temporarily reduce the sales professionals sense of control and expertise, especially in complex B2B environments where they are usually rewarded (by way of positive outcomes) for insight, advice, and authority.

This creates an internal tension for the seller between the relational demand to listen (ideally using Active Listening skills) and the role demand to “demonstrate their expertise,” with many sales professionals reverting to focusing on explaining rather than exploring.

What can Sales Managers do to help their sales team be better at listening?

• Help the team understand their own communication style and tendencies.
• Provide high-quality feedback to individuals (training or coaching) – internal self-reflection alone usually isn’t enough.
• Develop specific conversation response plans to guide the team when facing opportunities to explore rather than tell.

Would you like to discuss sales improvement options for your team?

Every team has it’s own style and mixture of skills and capabilities. If you’d like to schedule a non-judgemental and complimentary Discovery Session contact us to arrange a time with our experienced founder Stuart Ayling.