TL;DR
Empathy is one of the strongest predictors of sales performance. Sellers who understand and respond to buyer emotions build trust, influence decisions, and close more deals. But empathy is notoriously difficult to measure—especially in virtual selling environments. This article explores why empathy matters, how to measure it effectively, and how Uniphore’s Sales Interaction Agent uses Emotion AI, Generative AI, and real-time buyer insights to help revenue teams elevate empathy, optimize interactions, and accelerate deal outcomes.
What is empathy in sales?
Empathy in sales is the ability to understand and share a customer’s feelings and perspective. Empathy isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a measurable, revenue-generating advantage. By actively listening and addressing their needs, sales professionals build trust, strengthen relationships, and provide tailored solutions—leading to higher customer satisfaction and long-term success.
This concept, also known as selling with empathy, can significantly enhance decision-making quality in buyers by 11%, as noted by Alice Walmesley, a Director at Gartner Sales. By mastering empathy, sales professionals can better navigate and address the specific challenges their customers face, leading to transformative results in sales performance.
In this article, we’ll explore:
- Why empathy matters more than ever in modern sales
- Whether (and how) empathy is measurable
- Three practical ways to assess seller empathy
- Why evaluating calls through the buyer’s eyes is essential
- How AI can strengthen emotional intelligence across your revenue team
- How Uniphore’s Sales Interaction Agent empowers sellers with real-time buyer sentiment and engagement signals
Why do you need empathy in sales?
Empathy transforms how buyers perceive not just the conversation—but your brand. As Daniel Nackovski, former VP of Revenue inRiver and Certainly, explains: “People want to buy from people. People want to do business with people. They don’t want to do business with businesses. And an empathetic salesperson creates the difference.”
As the face of your brand, your sellers set the tone for your relationship with your customers. That’s why empathy is so vital. In fact, businesses that prioritize it routinely find:
1. Empathy develops trust
Sellers who acknowledge buyer emotions and circumstances create a sense of psychological safety. That trust fuels transparency, collaboration, and faster deal progression.
Salesforce research echoes this: 89% of buyers are more likely to buy from companies that demonstrate understanding of their goals.
2. Empathy optimizes every interaction
In 2026, sellers will need to connect with buyers on stakeholders’ preferred terms and help streamline the buying process. Sellers influence only a slice of that journey—so every interaction must land.
Empathetic sellers:
- Ask better, more specific questions
- Identify unspoken concerns
- Adapt in real time
- Understand how buyers feel, not just what they say
3. Empathy helps sellers focus on buyer needs
High-performing reps are shifting away from rigid scripts and toward contextual, human-centered dialogue.
As Noora Harju of HubSpot explained, “we used to use playbooks and scripts, and now what we are doing is getting sales reps to ask the right questions – teach them empathy, listening, and problem-solving – before we enter a specific script in their minds.”
Is your sales team’s empathy measurable?
Most sales leaders admit the answer is: not really.
Traditionally, empathy has been evaluated through:
- Call reviews
- Interview impressions
- Anecdotal feedback
- Seller self-reflection
None of which offer consistent, unbiased data.
Three ways to measure seller empathy (+ how to bring them together)
Prospective customer feedback
Buyers can share whether they felt heard and understood through:
- Post-call surveys
- Win / Loss Interviews
- Focus groups
But buyer feedback is inconsistent and often limited by time or willingness to participate.
Sales performance
Strong performance may signal empathy—but performance also includes many confounding factors. Useful, but not precise.
Self-assessment
Reps can evaluate their own:
- Ability to identify pain points
- Tone and phrasing
- Listening abilities
But self-bias is inevitable.
Bringing it all together: flip the script
You get a far more accurate picture of empathy when you evaluate calls from the buyer’s perspective.
That means measuring:
- Sentiment — the positive, negative, or neutral emotional response a buyer expresses
- Engagement — the level of attention, interest, or compromise the buyer displays
When combined with sales performance and buyer feedback, these signals create a reliable, objective “empathy score.”
Implementing emotional intelligence tools to support your team
Even experienced sellers struggle to read emotional cues in virtual environments.
“Consider the typical desktop meeting,” says Sylvain Tremblay, EVP Strategic Operations – Business Development at Uniphore. “Slides occupy most of the screen; audience members appear as tiny squares in the margin. Under current circumstances, it’s nearly impossible to accurately read the room.”
Virtual selling is fast-paced. In many cases, you have just 30 minutes to build rapport, deliver value, and secure the next step. Sellers must be efficient, intentional, and emotionally intelligent.
But they also need support.
A tool for measuring empathy: Uniphore’s Sales Interaction Agent
To effectively measure and strengthen empathy, teams need a tool that analyzes buyer reactions in real time—not just after the call.
That’s where Uniphore’s Sales Interaction Agent comes in.
Real-time buyer sentiment & engagement insights
Sales Interaction Agent analyzes every sales conversation’s:
- Visual cues (facial expressions, attentiveness)
- Verbal cues (phrasing, pacing)
- Tonal cues (energy, positivity, frustration)
This gives sellers a live read on:
- What resonates
- Where buyers disengage
- Which stakeholders show interest or resistance
It’s empathy—amplified and quantified.
During the call, sellers receive non-intrusive, real-time insights that help them:
- Adjust messaging
- Slow down or speed up
- Ask clarifying questions
- Address emotional signals
- Course-correct to maintain trust
Post-meeting summaries & sales EQ coaching
Sales Interaction Agent automatically generates:
- Meeting insights
- Buyer sentiment summaries
- Deal-risk cues
- Coaching recommendations
- “Moments that matter” clips for onboarding or collaboration
This gives leaders a reliable, unbiased way to coach empathy, not guess at it.
A unified empathy measurement system
Sales Interaction Agent uniquely provides:
- Quantitative engagement data
- Qualitative sentiment insights
- AI-generated emotional signals
- Behavioral analytics across deals and teams
- A clear view into methodology adherence
It’s the bridge between emotional intelligence and revenue intelligence.
Does your team need help selling with empathy?
Explore how Uniphore’s Sales Interaction Agent can help you scale empathy across your Sales organization.
FAQ: Empathy in sales + AI assistance
What is empathy in sales?
Empathy in sales is the ability to understand and respond to a buyer’s emotions, needs, and perspectives. It helps sellers build trust, uncover true motivations, and create more personalized, relevant solutions.
Why does empathy matter in virtual selling?
Virtual environments hide emotional cues. Body language is limited. Signals get lost. Empathy becomes harder—but also more essential for maintaining trust and momentum.
Can empathy actually be measured?
Yes—but not through traditional methods alone. Combining buyer sentiment, engagement signals, performance data, and conversation intelligence creates a reliable measurement of empathetic selling behavior.
How does Uniphore’s Sales Interaction Agent help sellers improve empathy?
It uses Emotion AI and Generative AI to analyze verbal, non-verbal, and tonal signals during live meetings, giving sellers real-time insights into how buyers feel and react. This empowers sellers to adapt with empathy on the spot.
Does Sales Interaction Agent replace human EQ?
No. It enhances it. Sellers remain the relationship builders—AI simply equips them with better visibility and intelligence.
What types of insights does the AI surface?
- Sentiment shifts
- Engagement peaks and drops
- Stakeholder reactions
- Key emotional moments
- Conversation risks
- Methodology adherence
How does this improve revenue outcomes?
Empathetic interactions increase trust, decision confidence, deal velocity, and long-term customer relationships.