Most salespeople know the phrase active listening. They nod, paraphrase, and keep good eye contact.

But here’s the truth: stopping at active listening isn’t enough if you want your team to uncover what’s really driving a customer’s situation.

The best sales conversations go one step further—through clarifying and probing.

Here’s what I mean.

A customer mentions: “We’re not hitting our project deadlines.”

A less experienced salesperson nods, empathises, maybe even shares how their product has solved this issue elsewhere. But a great salesperson digs deeper:

· “What’s causing the delays—resources, processes, or decision bottlenecks?”

· “How does that impact your team day-to-day?”

· “What would it mean if you could cut those delays by 20%?”

By asking these clarifying questions, the salesperson moves past the surface problem and into the real territory where value is created.

This is where many teams slip. They think they’ve understood, but in reality they’ve stopped one level too soon. That gap between what was said and what was meant is often where deals stall, solutions misfire, and trust erodes.

As a sales leader, this is the skill worth coaching into your team: don’t just listen—test your understanding out loud, then probe until you uncover the real issue.

Why? Two reasons:

1. Accuracy. You and the customer both get crystal clear on the problem and its drivers.

2. Trust. When clients see you taking the time to understand their situation better than anyone else, you become a partner, not a vendor.

It’s easy to get caught offering solutions too soon. But the discipline of clarifying and probing creates conversations where solutions feel tailored, not recycled.

Your challenge this week: in your next coaching session, role-play a customer conversation. Every time a “problem statement” comes up, push your team to clarify and probe at least twice before moving on.

You’ll be surprised how often the real issue is hiding just beneath the first answer.

DM me if you’d like some further insights sent over..