Listening Before Selling

Most conversations don't need to be steered. They need space.

In a business built around relationships, it's tempting to fill silence quickly – to explain, to pitch, to prove value. Early on, I learned that doing less of that often leads to better outcomes.

When I walk into a showroom, meet a designer, or sit down with a manufacturer, I'm paying attention to what's being said – but just as much to what isn't. What's emphasized. What's avoided. Where there's certainty, and where there's hesitation.

Those moments often tell you more than any prepared presentation ever could.

Listening doesn't mean showing up unprepared or passive. It means resisting the urge to jump to solutions before understanding context. Every account, every project, every relationship carries it's own pressures – timing, budget, bandwith, history – and those don't always surface right away.

Over time, I've found that the most productive conversations aren't the ones where everything gets covered. They're the ones where the right things surface naturally. Sometimes that leads to business quickly. Sometimes it doesn't. Either way, the relationship tends to be stronger for it.

Selling has its place. But in this role, listening is often what creates the opening in the first place.