Buying is always emotional.
Our customers can think they make logical decisions,but at the end of the day,it’s how they feel that drives the decisions they make.
So as a sales professional,the better equipped you are to understand their emotions,the better position you’ll be to appeal to them and influence them.
That, in essence, is emotional intelligence.
And having it is one of the most sought after soft skills.
The term emotional intelligence, EQ or EI,was coined by researchers
Peter Salovey and John Mayer,and popularized by Dan Goleman in his 1995 book,Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can matter More Than IQ.
Essentially, EI is the ability to recognize,understand, and manage our own emotions,and recognize, understand,and influence the emotions of others.
The higher your emotional intelligence,the higher your chances are of connecting with your customers.
The better you connect, the stronger the relationships,and the higher likelihood you get the sale.
In fact, a study of Fortune 500 companies found that salespeople with
high emotional intelligence outperform those with medium to low emotional intelligence by more than 50%.
Pretty good argument to increase your emotional intelligence, right?
So what are some ways you can work on it?
Tune in to self-awareness
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses,especially as they relate
to client relationships,that means being honest about what you do well and not so well.
Consider asking around about what trusted friends and colleagues think about your communication style,and how you come across to prospects and customers.
Exercise self-control
Practice recognizing not only your strengths and weaknesses,but engaging them or overcoming them as it relates to relationships with your customers.
Be socially aware
Understanding the emotions and personality types of your customers and prospects starts when you do that with everyone in your life.
Paying attention to how different people communicate what they value and what emotions they experience in the moment,will come in handy big time
as you attempt to recognize your customer’s state of mind in the heart of the sale.
Make social adjustments
This is the highest of the steps in emotional intelligence.
It’s being able to adjust your style or emotions to better mirror or connect
with that of your customer’s.
We all like people like us.
The more people communicate like us, move like us,or react like us, the more easily we connect with them.
You can practice this by mirroring others’ emotions.
This is a particular challenging exercise,especially when someone is angry or upset.
Now those are all external ways you can practice building your emotional intelligence.
But what about internally?
Here are some great steps to help you
Increase your emotional intelligence all by yourself.
Take time for self-reflection.
Take the time just to get in touch with your emotions.
But the better you understand your own emotions,the better you will be
able to control them,and recognize the emotions of your buyers.
Embrace criticism.
When you lose a deal, someone says they just didn’t connect with you, or even when you make a customer angry,instead of reacting, try embracing and thinking about the interaction after you’ve had time to calm down.
Start by taking a deep breath and just asking yourself,is there any truth to it,can you learn something from it?
Right or wrong, criticism is invaluable in helping you increase
your emotional intelligence.
And finally, practice.
This is a journey.Improving your emotional intelligence will not happen overnight.But the more you practice,the stronger your emotional
intelligence will get.
And remember, the stronger your emotional intelligence,the stronger your sales.
