I Thought I Was Listening Enough

At the Hospitality Expo, an older gentleman in a suit stopped by our booth.

He looked like any other visitor.

So I introduced our smart lock.

We spoke about automation, operational efficiency, and how hospitality is steadily shifting toward smarter systems.

It felt like a thoughtful, normal conversation.

Only later did I learn his name.

Sean Quinn — once one of Ireland’s wealthiest businessmen.

We went back and asked him something simple:

“We’re a young company. If you could give us one piece of advice, what would it be?”

He paused for a moment.

Then he asked me a question.

“When you’re talking to someone, what percentage of the time are you actually listening?”

I answered confidently, “Maybe 70%.”

At the time, I genuinely believed that was a strong number.

I speak clearly.

I explain well.

I know my product.

I thought I was already doing it right.

He smiled. “It should be closer to 85%.”

He asked my partner and me to role-play a simple, everyday conversation — the way we would normally talk to each other.

He used ordinary, daily scenarios as examples.

Then he showed us how he would approach it differently.

That was when I realised something important.

Asking the right questions is a skill.

And like any skill, it requires training.

Knowing that listening matters is one thing.

Actually developing the discipline to ask better questions — and then truly hearing the answers — is another.

He explained that when you truly listen — not waiting for your turn to speak, not preparing your next pitch — you begin to understand what the customer actually needs.

Not what you want to sell.

Not what you prepared to present.

But the real problem they are trying to solve.

That moment stayed with me.

Because before the expo,

my partner and I had already agreed on something:

Ask more questions.

Listen carefully.

Don’t rush into pitching.

And yet, being asked that question made me realise something uncomfortable — knowing the principle and fully practising it are two different things.

Since that conversation, I’ve started paying attention to something simple.

If I leave a meeting remembering only what I said,

I probably didn’t listen enough.

If I leave remembering what they were worried about, I did.

At an expo, everyone is competing.

Competing on design.

Competing on features.

Competing on persuasion.

But if you can listen just 20% more than the person next to you,

you’re already different.

And sometimes, that difference is enough.