Communication and sales Listen up "The importance of listening can hardly be exaggerated. It's our single most important communication tool," says consultant Andrea Nierenberg of The Nierenberg Group in New York. "If you just listen, people will tell you everything," she says. And what does that mean for the sales people? "I always tell my people to let the customers keep talking, because they'll tell you more information than you need to know to make the sale," advises Mark Courtney, director of sales and marketing at the Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel in Palm Springs, California. Source: "Can You Hear What I Hear", Alan Horowitz, Selling Power, July/August 2000