Emotions play a huge role in closing a sale, which is something I make sure to impart to all of my students. It’s especially important to use your emotional intelligence (EI) when pursuing new leads or approaching loyal customers during this pandemic. Their priorities and concerns have changed over the past several weeks, so it’s important for you to be sensitive to their situation and make it clear you’re there to serve their needs.
Whether you know it or not, your prospect will know whether you’re genuine within seconds of interacting with them. This has little to do with how prepared you are, the points you present, or if you’re on time. If you aren’t emotionally engaged with the other person and their needs – and willing and able to step into their shoes – you’ll be at a disadvantage.
If you’ve taken our Selling in a Recession series, you already know this. Others of you might be asking yourself, “What is emotional intelligence anyway?” If that’s the case, you should check out Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success by Colleen Stanley, my book recommendation for this week.
Here is the summary on Amazon:
“Emotional intelligence plays a vital role at every stage of the sales process. It’s easy to get defensive when prospects challenge you on price or to quickly cave and offer discounts in response to pressure. Those are examples of the fight-or-flight response – something salespeople learn to avoid when they build their emotional intelligence.
“Sales trainer and expert Colleen Stanley cites studies that show how emotional intelligence (EI) is a strong indicator of sales success and offers tips on how you can sharpen your skills and expand your emotional toolkit.
“Increasing your emotional intelligence is a sure way to overcome tough selling encounters. In Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success, you’ll learn how to increase impulse control for better questioning and listening, which EI skills are related to likability and trust, how empathy leads to bigger sales conversations and more effective solutions, how emotional intelligence can improve prospecting efforts, which EI skills are most common among top sales producers, and much more.
“Customers can get product information and price comparisons online. The true differentiator between you and a bot is your ability to deftly solve problems and build relationships. From business development to closing the deal, emotional intelligence will drive your performance – and your success.”
