The importance of emotional intelligence as a sales skill set cannot be overstated. When interacting with prospects and customers, EI is a foundational requirement for success. Each of The Five Pillars of Emotional Intelligence can impact your overall sales performance significantly. Here are examples of how each of these EI competencies are applicable within a complex sales cycle:
Self-Awareness
Knowing how your customers perceive you is critical. How do you present yourself? What are your strengths and weaknesses in a professional setting? What are the positive aspects of your personality that propel you, and what negative habits are hurting you? Developing a keen level of self-awareness is a crucial component of impactful customer engagement.
Self-Regulation
A well-developed self-regulation skill set is necessary to develop and maintain strong relationships with prospects and buyers. Having the ability to manage your thoughts, words, actions, and emotions effectively is a key predictor for a successful sales career. Without this intact skill set, you will put relationships at risk and compromise sales opportunities.
Motivation
3D printer sales is a challenging career that can offer significant financial and personal rewards. Your ability to maintain workplace motivation is often the critical differentiator between you and your competitors in the field. This especially holds true when faced with rejection or pushing through a slow sales season. Strong motivation is the fuel that propels successful sales professionals to consistent high performance.
Empathy
Out of the five EI competencies, empathy is often regarded as the most important for a salesperson to develop. Metaphorically, empathy allows you to walk a mile in your customer’s shoes—seeing and hearing things from their perspective. Prospects rarely buy from sales professionals who do not understand their needs and purchase motivations. Here are the three main types of empathy:
1) Cognitive Empathy: You understand how your customer thinks; you see things through their eyes. This can lead to improved communication between you and the customer.
2) Emotional Empathy: You understand how your customer feels, giving you a sense of their emotions. This can lead to a stronger connection between you and the customer.
3) Empathic Concern: You understand how your customer thinks and feels and have a genuine concern for their welfare. This forms the basis for compassion and can lead to the customer feeling like you genuinely care about their critical business issues.
Social Skills
How well you communicate with potential buyers will define your success or failure as a sales professional. Developing effective social and communication skills is a must! How well you interact with others, and your ability to articulate clear and concise messaging is a learned signature skill set that must be highly developed to succeed in sales.
Harris, Christopher. “Emotional Intelligence in Sales.” “Phase Selling for Additive Manufacturing.” 2020, pp. 81-83.
