Tuesday, August 18, 2009

7 reasons why increasing your emotional


As a sales professional, how many times have you had a gut feeling about a deal or a prospect? How many times did you follow that feeling? Did it work out for you? Would you be surprised that those gut feelings now have a scientific name and a whole new industry has sprung up to teach you how to take advantage of them? The new name is emotional intelligence or EI and the emotional intelligence training is designed to allow you to recognize emotions in yourself and others and to use that knowledge to leverage a sales position. In sales, your EI score can be more important than your IQ. Here are a few reasons why:1. Increased self awarenessIncreasing your ability to identify your own emotios is critical as that's the key to identifying and understanding the emotions of others. EI training can help you define what those gut instincts really are and then help explain how those emotions are perceived by others. Understanding your own emotions is the first step in becoming a more effective and influential personality.2. More effective problem solving skills Understanding what you are feeling when facing a problem will lead to better problem resolutions. Knowing if you are at the root frustrated, angry, afraid, indifferent or acting on rational data will assist you in coming up with solutions that make sense. Consider this advantage when facing an apparently impossible demand from a client.3. Increased ability to read a client or prospectWhen you can fully understand your own emotions, picking up on how others feel is far easier. And it's not just verbal it body positioning, gestures and as corny as it sounds, the look in their eyes. Understanding the emotional state of others gives you an enormous advantage when engaging in a sales activity.4. More accurate evaluation of a prospect's needsYou've probably had some training in effective listening or at least read a book on it. But if you have a high EI you can better evaluate what your prospect is saying by understanding what his emotions are when he says it. When a prospect tells you something and you detect a powerful emotion like anger, fear or happiness, then that's a sign of a true "need" as perceived by the prospect. If what you are hearing is associated with the emotion of indifference, then you have to dig deeper to find the real need.5. Spot on solutionsImagine the advantage you have over the competition if you know exactly what your prospect perceives as his needs. How much easier is it to design a solution hitting all the hot buttons in just the right place? Would a solution that solves all the perceived needs be worth more? Actually that would be determined by the emotions you recognized when asking about budget. However, delivering perfect solutions can only increase your close rate.6. Increased credibility and personal brand buildingDon't mistake all that we've listed so far as means to manipulate the emotions of others for your own benefit. If you truly do increase your EI you will become a person who is more in tune with others and will develop an ability to sincerely empathize with them. As a result, your work and all of your interaction will lend you credibility as an expert in your field who can be trusted. You are after all delivering what they want and not trying to cram a pre-packaged solution down their throats. This can only lead to improving your personal brand.7. Becoming an unintentional leaderA side effect of strong emotional intelligence is the irresistible urge of others to follow you. After all, you understand them and you have demonstrated success in your own business efforts. Initially you will become the "go to" person in sales but then it will expand into other departments. This may sound great but understand accepting the role involves taking on new responsibilities as well.Maybe it's time to explore the emotional intelligence workshops that are available. Quite possibly they could provide you with the means to greater success in sales as well as making you a far better communicator in all aspects of your life.

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