Empathy is hailed as a must-have-skill in sales these days – it’s critical to create a safe space to build trust with prospects and to have rich conversations.
But what does it have to do with speed?
When I first heard this idea from Chris Voss, it struck me as odd. Empathy is typically associated with patience, warmth, kindness, safety – never speed.
Voss went on to explain the very common idea that we’re humans – we are emotional. If we use empathy, we will more quickly get to emotions – if we get to the emotion (e.g., the heart of the matter) this is where deals get done.
It’s quite simple really.
In addition to creating a safe space, empathy gets deals done faster.