How to develop your emotional intelligence for sales

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.

Arnab Ghosh

My name is Arnab Ghosh. I have been working as a Corporate professional for the past 19 years. After completing my graduation from City College {University of Calcutta}, I started my career with R.S.Software India, followed by Vedika Software Pvt.Ltd. Have worked with industry giants such as Convergys, Satyam Nipuna Services, Wipro BPO, Tata Teleservices Limited, Aircel, TaxiForSure, Brainware University among others. I am a certified trainer from Aircel Academy – Manager As a Coach & Trainer. I have also completed certifications from TBO Academy & Alison Education in the field of “Soft Skills“, the knowledge of which I apply to my students at my University regularly. I have also successfully completed “The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing” certification from Google and “Digital Marketing Course” from TBO Academy. I was awarded “Google Analytics for Beginners” certificate by Google after successfully completing their course. I have achieved CEFR level B2 (Upper Intermediate) in a test of English proficiency from the British Council English Score. I am a bundle of drive, energy, commitment, and dedication and firmly believe in living my life in my own terms, be it working my heart out to achieve business targets or enjoying my spare time doing things that give me joy and feelings of contentment. My hobbies include reading books & listening to music and blogging. I sincerely believe that one should never lose focus in life and that one has to put in a lot of hard work & effort to reach the top.