You CAN Grow Your Emotional Intelligence and Sell More

One of the first priorities when meeting with a prospect is to establish rapport. This can involve some initial small talk about common interests, noticing something in the prospect’s home or office to talk about, or even some innocuous subject such as the weather or sports.

Unfortunately, these efforts fall flat sometimes. A talkative salesperson might turn off a dominant, A-type prospect who just wants to get down to brass tacks. Conversely, an aggressive salesperson might try to close a thoughtful prospect too soon, before trust is gained.

How can these salespeople do better at their next sales call? The answer is to develop their emotional intelligence for sales success.

How emotional intelligence relates to sales

Emotional intelligence means being attuned to the emotional state and personality of oneself and others. It is also the ability to adjust one’s approach to obtain a better result in human interactions and relationships.

By gaining emotional intelligence for sales success, salespeople can avoid the situations described above by adjusting their approach based on the person in front of them. The salesperson faced with the A-type prospect might briefly mention a mutual connection to establish a commonality and then segue right into the pitch, highlighting the most salient points. The seller dealing with the thoughtful prospect might spend more time asking gentle questions about the buyer’s career, education, and business to show more empathy and care before launching into the presentation.

For those who are challenged with this, it becomes a case of “fake it ‘til you make it” at first, and then it gets easier to match the buyer’s personality. Salespeople who put in the effort to improve their emotional intelligence for sales success find it extends to their personal relationships as well, leading to better communication with friends and family – a great payoff!

Ways to develop emotional intelligence for sales success

I recommend becoming a student of people. Read whatever you can about the mind and what makes people tick. Fortunately, a lot of great information on psychology is contained in literature related to sales, marketing, and advertising. These tend to focus on what works, rather than airy-fairy theories, so the information is practical.

Also, learn about your own personality and your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to relating to others. The APQ is the first step to self-discovery for many salespeople, attractive because it specifically applies to sales roles.

The APQ could also point to a career change. If you don’t possess the traits to be a successful outside sales hunter, perhaps a shift to a customer service or inside sales position might be best.

The point is to invest just a little bit into discovering what makes you tick. You will gain insights which will hopefully encourage you to change areas where you are weak and make you more successful as a result.

Here is a video which gives more information on the assessment:

Contact us today to learn more about using the APQ to assess & develop emotional intelligence (EQ) for Sales success.