Emotional Intelligence in Sales

Today, developing innovative and disruptive products and services distinct from competitors is imperative to gain a competitive advantage. Doing so can even put a business in a win-win situation. But creating high-quality products that will worth, companies need to consider Emotional Intelligence, the ability to express and control emotions and read the emotions of others and respond benevolently.

In the area of sales that requires the capacity to break down fences, conquer objections and build relationships with customers, emotional intelligence is an invaluable skill. With today’s ever-changing buying behaviors, having emotional intelligence skills is a powerful way of understanding customers’ emotions. This can also enable a salesperson to deliver effective decision-making.

Emotional intelligence defines as a superior skill than IQ as it is teachable and can be improved upon with learning, practice and some patience significantly. In fact, studies show EI is a much predictor and important to success at work than IQ. According to Colleen Stanley, the author of ‘Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success’, emotional intelligence skill training is essential in closing the knowing and doing gap. Enabling high emotional intelligence sales cultures within an organization can be effective. This will allow a salesperson to disqualify opportunities that are never going to turn into a closed business and move on to more likely prospects.

According to a study conducted on a pharmaceutical company, sales representatives who increased their emotional intelligence skills by 18 percent attained their total sales revenue by an average of 12 percent.

So, how can a business improve their sales team’s EI skills?

With appropriate emotional intelligence training, a salesperson will be able to differentiate themselves from others. There are many reasons that sales organizations do not move according to their needs. One of them is sales representatives are more engaged in covering up their mistakes, despite focusing on identifying the problem, their remedies and how to avoid that for the future. In this way, businesses need to develop a raise-your-hand culture, where salespeople quickly raise their hands, accept liability for mistakes, and move ahead for driving more sales.

Having emotional intelligence in a salesperson can keep their team feeling optimistic during tough times by boosting confidence. This illustrates a natural ability to read the emotions of others where they become supportive and empathetic when team members are stressed or feeling pressured.

Emotional intelligence is still a novel thing for many sales organizations, which is why many are excited to be leading the charge. Thus to develop EI skills requires training and practice which help attempt to examine key personal emotional competencies as well as key emotional intelligence relationship skills for both personal and professional success. Creating a self-regulating emotion can also help reduce the frequency of negative emotions that impact sales calls. Such activities aim to expedite various cognitive and affective processes that support a salesperson to better understand and regulate customers’ emotions and manage relationships effectively with empathy.