This is the first in a 10-part series, How to Be a Better Sales Manager. It’s my belief that the sales manager is underserved. There’s plenty of training and coaching available for sales people, but managers, the unheralded heroes of sales success, are all too often left to their own devices. These posts are designed for sales managers who want to do better and are looking for ideas.

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It seems to me listening is the first step to becoming a better sales manager. Why? Because the first step to managing anything is understanding what it is you are trying to manage. And where does understanding come from? Listening.

You deal with customers, sales people, internal customers, bosses, and peers. They’re all coming to you to minimize their pain and maximize their gain. In order to help them, you have to listen attentively.

Listening attentively is a challenge for anyone, but for sales managers, who must be consummate multi-taskers, it’s particularly difficult. Nonetheless, it is a skill which must be mastered. Otherwise, you’ll end up maximizing pain and minimizing gain. You’ll end up misinterpreting what people want and delivering something other than what they need. The result? Frustration. If it happens repeatedly - exasperation. Neither response is good for one’s career.

To make matters more difficult, not only must you listen attentively, you must look as though you’re listening attentively. There’s nothing more annoying than trying to explain something to someone who is fidgeting, flipping through a stack of papers on their desk, continually glancing at the clock or their cell phone, etc.

You may indeed be able to listen attentively while doing three other things at the same time. But the person you’re listening to will not be impressed by your mental dexterity; instead, they will resent you, believing you are not taking them seriously. I myself have been guilty of conveying such an impression - I suppose most of us do from time to time. The worst part is, you’re usually not aware you’re doing it, and thus you’ve created a problem you don’t even realize exists.

So how do you become a better listener? Here’s a bit of advice you probably weren’t expecting from a sales and marketing blog. Read Peace Is Every Step, by the extraordinary Buddhist philosopher Thich Nhat Hanh.

The book is all about the joy of living in the moment. It explains how to concentrate, how to focus your attention, how to put yourself fully into everything you do as you are doing it. It is easy to read and powerful. It could change your life. And I think it’s a great place to start becoming a better listener.

Becoming a real listener requires spiritual exercise. Listening is a frame of mind that demands a certain - and perhaps unfamiliar - attitude with respect to time, your environment, other people, and yourself. All the tips and techniques in the world won’t bridge the gap between your ears and what’s going on in your head. You have to start in your head and work your way out to the ears.

To listen better, get spiritual! And BTW, you don’t have to be a Buddhist (or even interested in Buddhism) to enjoy Peace Is Every Step. If you give it a read, I’d love to know what you think.