What is EQ?

EQ (Emotional Quotient, aka Emotional Intelligence) is the ability to use your “street smarts” to deal effectively with other people, their feelings and your own feelings. In sales situations, EQ is the ability to use emotions (your own and others’) to produce mutually beneficial sales.

EQ differs from IQ (Intelligence Quotient) in two important ways. First, unlike IQ, which is genetically determined and cannot be changed, there are numerous studies demonstrating that EQ can be increased through a combination of awareness and training. Second, while many people assume that a high IQ leads to success, EQ is a much better predictor of success, especially in sales, where personal interaction plays such an important role.

EQ is measured using five basic “scales” which are defined by 15 “sub-scales.” Here’s the conceptual framework:

The five sub-scales that are the most important in sales situations are Assertiveness, Emotional Self-Awareness, Empathy, Problem Solving and Happiness. Sales reps who learn to pay attention to these five sub-scales are highly likely to see an increase in their sales effectiveness.

Assertiveness. This aspect of EQ helps the sales rep to move a sales situation forward without offending or frustrating the customer. Assertiveness can be seen as located halfway between passivity and aggressiveness. For example, suppose you are trying to close but the customer is delaying the final decision. There are at least three possible responses:

1) Passive: “Could you give me a call when you’ve made a decision?”

2) Assertive: “Can you give me a specific time and date when you’ll make your final decision?”

3) Aggressive: “If you don’t buy right now, the offer is off the table.”

The first response is almost guaranteed to fail, while the third response, if it succeeds, will probably make the customer feel pressured and resentful. The middle approach, by contrast, sets up the specific conditions for the close without forcing the customer’s pace.

Emotional Self-Awareness. This helps the sales rep to identify his or her own emotions and then use those emotions to build a stronger customer relationship. Using emotional self-awareness in a sales situation is a three-step process:

1) Examine your internal processes to identify the emotions you’re feeling.

2) Based on your experience, predict how those emotions will affect your sales effort.

3) Compensate for negative emotions that might hinder the sale and expand positive emotions that might help the sale.

For example, if you’re furious that your first customer in the morning stood you up, you might take a break before your second meeting in order to recover your temper. Alternatively, you might, as an icebreaker, tell the second customer that you’re having a tough day and why. (Obviously, whether this kind of self-revelation is appropriate depends upon your relationship with the second customer.) Regardless of what action you take, you must ensure that your emotions help rather than hinder your sales effort.

Empathy. This helps sales reps adapt their behavior to the customer’s unique moods and emotions. Empathy begins with effective listening and effective observation. However, simply “knowing” what the customer might be feeling is not enough. To be empathetic, a sales rep must actually be able to feel what the customer is likely to be feeling. For example, suppose, during a sales call, you discover that the customer’s firm just announced major layoffs. There are at least three possible responses:

1) Proceed with the sales call as if nothing had changed. (After all, it’s not your problem.)

2) Find out whether the customer will have buying authority after the layoffs are complete.

3) Take a moment to imagine the sense of fear and confusion that’s an inevitable result of layoff announcements, and depending on the situation and your reading of the customer, decide whether the customer would prefer to commiserate and complain or alternatively to be distracted from the entire situation.

Clearly the third response is most likely to build a stronger customer relationship.

Problem Solving. This helps the sales rep create new ways to satisfy the customer’s needs. These needs might be business-oriented, such as a large company’s need for transportation, or emotional, such as an individual customer’s need to be convinced that your company is reputable and reliable. Problem solving is a three-step process:

1) See the customer situation as it really is. Don’t try to solve a problem before you fully understand it.

2) Help the customer visualize how the customer would like the situation to be.

3) Devise a way to move the customer from the ways things are today to the way the customer would like them to be.

While the above might seem a bit obvious, many sales reps are under the mistaken (and sometimes fatal) impression that they are merely a conduit for products or services. Effective sales reps realize that they are selling a solution that satisfies a need, which means that selling must involve a large amount of problem solving.

Happiness. This helps the sales rep maintain a sense of balance when things go awry. One way to look at happiness is as a reflection of the unspoken rules that sales reps use to interpret the meaning of events. For example, imagine two sales reps with two different rule sets. (See table above.)

Note that both sets of rules are arbitrary, emotional responses to identical events. From an entirely objective viewpoint, neither set of rules is strictly “realistic.” However, sales rep number two is far more likely to be happy than sales rep number one. Because of this, sales rep number two will consistently be more effective in sales situations because he or she will be better able to feel and communicate enthusiasm and energy.

Improving EQ

EQ can be enhanced in two ways. First, simply becoming aware of the EQ concept can help sales reps change their thoughts and behaviors, thereby increasing their EQ. Second, EQ can be enhanced through training, either online or in a classroom setting.

In most cases, participants in an EQ course start by taking a test to measure their current EQ levels. Sales reps then observe (or participate in) a series of interactions that illustrate the way sales reps with differing EQ capabilities handle common sales situations. After the training is complete, the EQ is remeasured in order to determine if it has changed. EQ trainers often have participants devise a follow-up action plan detailing specific steps that participants plan to take in order to continually improve their EQ capabilities.

Ultimately, however, the best measurement for EQ training is whether sales reps can sell more effectively. In most organizations, sales reps see a sharp increase in sales and in customer satisfaction immediately subsequent to EQ training. That uptick in sales is often followed by a period of gradual, additional improvement.

Tips For Your Next Meeting

These EQ elements are very important for sales reps:

• Assertiveness: Ability to express feelings, beliefs and thoughts openly.

• Emotional Self-Awareness: Ability to recognize and understand what you are feeling and why.

• Empathy: Ability to understand and appreciate the feelings of others.

• Problem Solving: Ability to identify problems and generate effective solutions

• Happiness: Ability to enjoy oneself and others and to feel satisfied with one’s life.