“Performative curiosity” reduces buyer trust and insights.

Hey there again, it's Bob London, customer discovery and listening expert. By the way, it should be illegal to teach discovery without listening because discovery without listening is something more akin to an interrogation, like an inquisition. So you need the listening skills to make sure they understand that you're hearing them, not just parroting back what they said and reframing to your benefit, but just actually digging in I call it dwell on what they said. I want to talk today about performative curiosity. It's a term mentioned by the founder of a very successful consulting firm that I had breakfast with over the weekend, and it perfectly describes this situation that I'm obsessed with, which is you can tell when the seller is just going through the motion of asking questions versus the sellers that actually— they appear to be authentically curious about what's going on in your world. The ones who— I use the word dwell a lot— the ones who dwell, they ask contextually relevant follow-up questions. They like to clarify things before racing to their pitch. They think. You can tell that they're thinking before they're solutioning. They might actually recommend something or pitch something a little different based on what you said instead of their standard pitch. The ones who do this well, who have authentic curiosity, not performative, it's a safe bet they're going to be the top performers. Because they're the ones who have uncovered the real business pain, the real business driver that anchors every closed deal. I'll put it this way, every successful closed deal. What's a successful closed deal? One where the customer is thrilled with the outcome because it was a good fit and they stay and grow over long periods of time. So get out your curiosity shovel and dig. Listen for that one vivid word that the customer says. You just have to dwell once Just one time in any prospect or customer conversation. This is not about discovery. This is not about qualification. This is about every conversation you have with a prospect. Slow down your brain, make sure they feel heard and understood, and you're going to get golden insights that your competitors aren't getting. Hope that makes sense.