3 REASONS WHY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IS IMPORTANT FOR A SALES CANDIDATE.

Imagine going back to work after a great weekend and finding out that your potential seller has canceled the offer to purchase after months of negotiations. How would you react? Would you burst out in anger or would you think calmly about what actually went off beam? While most of us would likely choose to do the second but keeping emotions in check can be challenging. 

We define emotional intelligence as the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. 

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Emotional intelligence is that one intangible skill that is mandatory to have, regardless of your career. But when it comes to sales, emotional intelligence is considered to be the primary skill every candidate is required to master before they start interacting with the customers.  

In this post, we’ll provide 5 reasons why emotional intelligence really matters in the workplace for sales personnel and how you can achieve your success potential in sales by mastering this skill. 

 How does Emotional Intelligence relate to SALES? 

Sales and Emotional Intelligence? The first thing that might have popped up in your head must be “Isn’t sales just about numbers and meeting targets?”

According to HubSpot study, most sales professionals work well beyond 40 hours per week and 54% of all salespeople describe their lifestyle as stressful and the human interaction to be challenging. 

With such high levels of stress, professionals with low emotional intelligence often become the first casualties that fail to persist. Sales professionals work in an environment where social and emotional skills are of importance. Their performance is related to their ability to manage social and emotional problems and to maintain a high level of motivation to face problems arising due to negative feedback and failures. A salesperson high in EI should be resilient and able to handle the emotionally threatening consequences of failure which is common in the life of the salesperson.

3 reasons why Emotional Intelligence is important for a sales candidate.

#1 Dealing with Rejections

On average, Sales personnel makes 52 calls a day and gets rejected 35 times. Constantly hearing ‘No’ each day can be tough for a salesperson to hear.

Professionals lacking Emotional Intelligence can easily fall by the wayside and cannot stay for a very long time in the sales team. On the other hand, Smart, positive salespeople can turn rejections into sales by preparing a practical plan. Instead of taking customers ‘NO’ personally, they are more likely to see it as an opportunity to improve their techniques.

#2 Building relationship

Most salespeople have an approach that is “all about me” and this involves jumping right away to talk about the products they want to sell you and the company that they work for. It takes an emotionally intelligent person to read the signals a potential customer is giving and respond to their pitch accordingly. 

If the prospect is B2C, the salesperson can adopt an informal approach. However, a more respectful and formal tone should be used for a B2B lead.

#3 Delayed gratification

Most people working in sales are rushing after the buzz that comes from closing a deal. Though this approach seems fascinating, it can be damaging to your sales funnel, as it means there are fewer leads entering at the top. 

Emotionally intelligent people tend to be more willing to do the work that leads to the reward and aiming for delayed gratification.

Just like other soft skills, emotional intelligence is also seen as one of the most important skills to be looked for in buyer-seller communication. Salespeople with low EI tend to let their own emotions get the better of them. Luckily, emotional intelligence can be developed and improved. Thus, allowing sales experts to hold meaningful conversations and develop a rapport with customers.

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