EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN SALES

Emotional Intelligence, which is also referred to as Emotional Quotient (EQ), described as the opposite of Intelligence Quotient
(IQ). It can be referred to as the ability to be aware of your emotions, as
well as that of others, so you could manage them in a productive manner.

Two great authors who have studied the use of EQ are Steven Stein and Howard Book; they are the authors of The EQ Edge, a book defining Emotional Quotient (EQ) and every other thing related to it. The comprehensive, and in-depth studies of these men in the research of EQ shows that compared to hard selling skills, soft skills are very important in winning business.

You might ask, why is emotional intelligence important in sales? The reason is not far-fetched, and this article is to provide with enough understanding of the emotional quotient (EQ). One of the reasons why the emotional quotient of a person is important is because it improves the person’s sales and marketing skills.

Research has proven that emotionally intelligent sales people tend to perform better than their non-emotionally intelligent counterparts. There are five EQ skills that affect sales performance, and they are: Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Social Skills, Empathy, and Motivation.

Let’s take a look at the features of each skill and how they help you in becoming a better sales person:

Self-Awareness is the ability of the ideal salesperson to identify and understand their own emotions and the impact it has on those around them. He or she is better at managing time and conserving energy with regards to their emotional states. Some of their features include: constant happiness, they’re considered less or not annoying by customers, etc.

Self-regulation is defined as impulse control. It is the ability to directly control and adapt to a situation, as well as their emotions. These kinds of emotionally intelligent salespersons are better at adapting to a job, and will generate motivation wherever they are.

Social skills speaks of social awareness, maintaining relationships and building respect and rapport over a period of time with your customers. Salespeople with good social skills are successful prospects because they can maintain bigger and stronger networks from which sales opportunities are drawn. In simpler terms they understand what’s about to happen and how they can adjust to it.

Empathy can be described as the opposite of self-awareness. It is the ability of a salesperson to identify and understand other people’s state-of-mind, emotions and the possibility of productive response. He or she is capable of making judgement on how the prospect is feeling, so they can adapt to this and steer conversations the right way.

Motivation is referred to as a strong desire to complete a task or accomplish a specific goal at that time. With better motivation, a salesperson can get more jobs completed, and achieve other goals in a day.

For salespersons to be very effective, they need to master all
the skills related to emotional intelligence. Having a better EQ will help
you as a salesperson to negate any feeling of doubt or loss, create awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, increase your learning ability, and creative self-motivation.