When I started my career in Sales around 14 years back, I thought selling was the simplest thing to do. And why not. I was always good at communicating with others and liked to interact with strangers. But, what Emotional Intelligence is, was beyond my scope (let alone using it in Sales).

Like most people, I thought selling was all about convincing prospects about products and services, closing the conversations & getting the money in the bank. That’s it. I had no idea that sales would open a gamut of other facets of the job role for me to experience. One of them was the concept of Emotional Intelligence and how it changed the game for Salespeople.

Emotional Intelligence is no longer a good-to-have for Salespeople. Today, it is a skill that everyone must learn. It applies more to people selling regular products and services or something already very competitive in the market.

Imagine this. Why would anyone buy a product from you if the same product is available in the market from ten other players at a competitive price? The answer is your relationship with the prospect. They won’t buy a product or service. They would buy out of your trust, camaraderie and benevolence. But to build all of it, you need the help of Emotional Intelligence or EQ.

What Emotional Intelligence is for the Corporate World

Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) is not new to the corporate world. You have already heard about it or even attended a training on it. You have also seen that some of your colleagues are not at all susceptible to others, rather they are more aware of their surroundings and well equipped to handle all types of people or emotional tantrum thrown around them. You wonder how they are so much in control of themselves and responsive to the behaviour of others. These are the emotionally intelligent warriors, observe and learn from them! 

While there has been no real conclusive finding that job performance is directly linked to EQ/EI, studies have shown that a higher EI leads to better performance, especially for leaders. Unfortunately, the same may not be true for line managers or the foot soldiers running the show for the company. 

The question then arises as what should the leaders do to maintain their EQ mindfulness and at the same time imbibe a culture of empathy in their teams, towards their external and internal stakeholders. How should they identify personality traits in their team members and groom them to be future leaders, using the models of Emotional Intelligence? 

Using Daniel Goleman’s Key Constructs in Sales

As per Goleman, in his NY bestselling book called “Emotional Intelligence – Why it can matter more than IQ”, published in the year 1995, he shares the model of 5 key constructs that leaders must follow to succeed in their goals and more importantly leading teams. he discussed empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills & motivation. Let us look at three of these in a sales context.   

Emotional Intelligence in Sales via Empathy

When meeting clients or speaking to them over a call, sales associates are so focused on SELLING their products/services that at least 70% of the time they do not LISTEN to what the client wants or needs. Yes, there are sales targets to be achieved and commission checks to be earned, however, this superfluous approach leads to no long-term loyalty or bonding between the clients and the sales associates.  

To handle big and high-paying clients, companies deploy their key account management strategies and assign a senior and much-seasoned team. But that again, if you see is all about capturing the top 80% of the revenue stream. What about the remainder of 20% that could convert to a top account? In short, what about business development? Scouting for new meaty accounts? 

Sales leaders must ensure that each member of their team is being trained on EI/EQ. They must teach their associates to use genuine emphatic concern for their prospective clients’ needs, situation, budgets and so on.  This leads to not only a meaningful and satisfying job profile for the team members, it also allows them to differentiate themselves over the competition. 

Emotional Intelligence in Sales via Social Skills

Whether you are selling your products/services, building relationship with clients or creating harmonious synergy within your team, all of these tasks require social skills to execute them. Imagine you get a new lead and you visit this client for the first time. How will you create trustworthiness? It’s no longer just about breaking the ice. It is about breaking the ice and using it in the lemonade you just made. 

Negotiating & persuading the client in the first meeting itself for a piece of business can be daunting if sales associates meet a tough or fussy client. In such cases, converting this client becomes a primary goal and being accepted to his circle of trust, a secondary goal. The only way to do all of this successfully in the first meet is to be socially aware and mindful of the client, his/her position and the environment in general. 

It is the responsibility of sales leaders to first understand and then teach their employees that selling skills like negotiation, persuasion and work-assertive behaviour are all part of the larger construct of social skills. It is no longer a luxury but a necessity. This especially holds if you are selling a product/service which has heavy supply in the market and the only differentiator you have are services/after-sales services/customer care/relationships etc. 

Emotional Intelligence in Sales via Self-control

While this may sound like a no-brainer for any business setting, there are moments every day that may make the most regulated mind to burst out with emotions due to external factors. For example, burnout at work, family exigency or lack of personal quality life. All of these factors contribute as triggers and so self-control is a very essential part of Emotional Intelligence when dealing with “monkey business” or otherwise.    

Being in sales and doing the daily work-chores involved throws associates into a frenzy of tasks, emotions, changes and tactics they must adapt to come out on the top. For example, a change in company policies towards certain products, last-minute changes in processes, additional paperwork can lead to situations where associates simply want to tear their hair off. Self-control in such situations is of paramount importance. 

Unfortunately, such situations rub off on the sales leaders as well since they are part of the team. A top-down mishandling, or setting a wrong example as a leader can lead to a terrible after-effect down the rungs. For example, if leaders themselves do not have it in them to keep it composed, sane and perceptive then associates have all the reason to follow their leaders’ footsteps.  

Conclusion

Whether Emotional Intelligence/Quotient is a valid concept for the business world or not, has not been conclusively decided. Critics have pointed out that one doesn’t need to have a high EQ to do well, good general intelligence and personality traits are enough to reach the pinnacle of success at work.  

However, even these critics have agreed that there is a higher correlation with the performance of leaders and EQ. Therefore, it makes sense to introduce such concepts to sales associates as early as possible. After all, they are supposed to be future leaders anyway. 

Facebook


Twitter


Linkedin


Instagram


Envelope