Would you rather be a good speaker or a good listener, and why? Is this important for a sales person?

It is best to combine both capacities but whichever has a preference?

It's good to be the preference as a very good listener and when the answer must be very tactful collected be good listeners and then a good speaker

I prefer to be a good listener rather than a good speaker because I believe on the importance of "active listening" as the foundation to good communication.

Many of us think that communication is talking - and talk we do. We interrupt, advise, reassure, judge, analyze, criticize, argue, moralize, threaten, divert, diagnose, etc., etc. But, good communication requires good listening as well as talking. In fact, since we have two ears and only one mouth, listening just might be the more important skill. However, we receive almost no training in good listening and usually do not realize that really "hearing" someone is not a passive activity. To be a good listeners, we must, first, pay attention. The remainder of this article will focus on "attending" skills. The next article will discuss how to listen "actively" rather than passively.

For sales person it is vital to be active listener rather than a good speaker , as such when customers are speaking and someone is not paying attention, how they would feel? Annoyed, frustrated, discounted, rejected, anxious or angry? Such feelings usually make communication more difficult with clients and impact sales call. So how can sales people show clients who is speaking that they really are paying attention to them, so they can do this both nonverbally and verbally to perform successful sales call and keep good communication with customers .

Finally, knowing when to be silent can be a powerful communication tool. Silence allows the speaker to become aware of his or her own feelings, to explore more deeply and to proceed at his or her own pace. Because many listeners become self-conscious with silence, they feel the need to "break" it by talking or asking questions. Unfortunately, this usually disrupts and derails the speaker. How can silence be handled for sales person? I advise you to pay attention to the body posture of the speaker and "listen" to what it says to you. Try to imagine what the speaker might be feeling, consider various ways that you might respond, and then choose the most helpful response.

Thanks

As for me . I am always both of them , situations imposing this on me as manager sometimes and an executive employee others, anyways as a salesperson you should be good speaker with customers in time when you need to send them a massage or convincing them , and good listener  when they need to tell you something about your product \\ service.

agree with all colleagues answers

.........I AGREE WITH ALL ANSWERS

I would rather be a good listener, as for a sales person its vital to be a good listener as you can build a good relationship with you customers and build trust. Distinguishing whats the quality information through listening. listening allows you to read a mind of a person speaking .

First Good Listener then good Speaker. Specially when you are in Customer Support profession.

To become a good speaker, one should become a good listener. Both come in pair.

For me, if you are a sales person you must have that two, GOOD LISTENER and GOOD SPEAKER because you must listen first before answering the questions.

I would rather be a good listener , for it the reason that makes me a good speaker