Greg Talks About a Ride-a-long Not Clarifying

Ever experience something like this?? In a sales call, the seller heard a vague answer and went straight to a feature.

SELLER: SO WHAT'S BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU?

Buyer: Things just haven’t really worked out the way we hoped with our last vendor. They just didn’t respond the way we needed them to.

SELLER: GOT IT...WELL WE TAKE PRIDE IN OUR RESPONSE TIMES, WE'RE ALWAYS THE FASTEST...

Buyer: Well, that was our problem with them… they were fast, when we needed them to be accurate…
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Open mouth, insert foot...

This happened during a ride along, and after I asked the seller what he could have done better, he said "I should have also mentioned accuracy"...

I said, that's partly true, but the bigger mistake was not clarifying what he heard first, with something like, "When you say they didn’t respond the way you needed them to… talk more about that. What was missing?”

The habit of clarifying before assuming is so common with sellers, managers...hell everyone.
Sales managers, have you experienced sellers hopping to features instead of deeper listening?