Picture this scenario, you are a salesperson who has identified a potential client who fits your ideal customer profile.
You prepare the information you need so as to have a successful cold call. You introduce yourself but before you go any further, the client starts talking about a bad experience they had with a different company.
What would you do?
Would you say that you are from a different company or would you empathize with them and get to understand what went wrong so that you don’t make the same mistake?
The difference between a beginner salesperson and an advanced salesperson can be highlighted by their ability to recognize and regulate their emotions and that of others. This is what we call emotional intelligence.
As a salesperson, you need to be able to relate and connect with people by cultivating a high level of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence in sales.
A buyer typically goes through three stages before they buy a product or service. The stages include:
Awareness Stage- The buyer becomes aware of the problem they have.
Consideration Stage- The buyer evaluates various solutions to their problem.
Decision Stage- The buyer selects a solution they will use to solve their problem.
At each stage, the salesperson is required to practice emotional intelligence as he/she engages with the customer.
Here are four ways in which emotional intelligence is practiced in sales:
Building rapport
Your ability to build a trusting relationship with the customer will influence the customers' decision on whether or not they should buy from you.
Throughout the customer’s journey, you need to be intuitive and show empathy so that you can make the customer comfortable as well as be able to adapt your pitch accordingly.
2. Overcoming objections
A customer needs to ensure that their problem is being solved in the most effective and efficient way. They will 100% have areas of concern regarding your offer. So, you need to empathize with them and make sure you respond to all their concerns and help them make a decision.
3. Handling objections
Even after overcoming the customers’ objections, sometimes the customer is not yet ready to prioritize solving the problem. As a salesperson, it might feel frustrating after spending a lot of time talking and addressing the customers' questions and concerns to have them not buy your product or service. With emotional intelligence, you learn not to take the rejection personally.
4. Delayed gratification
An impatient salesperson suffers from ‘commission breath.’Commission breath is an expression used to describe a salesperson who is so desperate to close a sale that they would do anything to get it.
Customers can tell a salesperson who is suffering from commission breath versus the one without it.
A salesperson needs to exercise patience and self-awareness because otherwise, they will lose sales opportunities.
In the Yusudi Sales Academy, emotional intelligence is a core part of our training sessions. Here is a sneak peek of what awaits you in the academy.
Written by: Esther Njekehu
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