August 6, 2026- Repertoire Magazine recently spoke to Vance Crowe, the founder of Legacy Interviews and a communications expert, on the value of communication to the sales process, the biggest gaps in communication and how to show genuine curiosity during a sales call.
A gap in communication can lead to confusion and misunderstandings, which is a significant obstacle in the sales process. For Crowe, the best communication skill is good listening – when you’re distracted, it’s hard to actively listen to what’s going on in the conversation.
“When your mind is thinking about an obstacle or a goal, that’s all you hear in the conversation. Is this conversation getting me closer to my goal? Is this helping me get around my obstacles? When you’re fully present and trying to understand someone, those things clear away,” Crowe said.
For sales reps who are trying to get their numbers up, it can be easy to miss the simple joy of a conversation. But the reality is that true success comes from having the patience to invest one’s time in real conversations with a prospect. You can better understand the challenges prospects and customers are facing and the types of solutions that they are looking for when you take the time to listen and have a real conversation.
“You will know you are having a great conversation if the person you’re talking with, even if they’re talking about a subject they know a lot about, is discovering something new,” Crowe said. “One of the techniques I teach in my classes is that it’s much better to ask ‘how’ questions than ‘why’ questions. When you ask a ‘why’ question, that gets to the motivation, which gets to the big secret of it all. Most of what we do is a reaction to things – we don’t know why we do what we do.”
By asking someone a ‘how’ question, you can get to the root of what led them to that decision and what was going on in the moment. This prompts people to think, which will help them discover new things. Crowe argues that ‘why’ questions trigger the imagination part of the brain, where they will be more likely to embellish the truth in the retelling.
Continue Reading in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.