Even top sales professionals sometimes struggle to connect with prospects. Despite having the perfect product or service for the prospect, sales can stall for no apparent reason, leaving you wondering what’s missing in your approach. 

Recognising your sales emotional intelligence (sales EQ) means you can understand yourself and your customers on a deeper level and transform your sales strategy to form deeper relations. 

What is sales EQ? 

Sales EQ refers to emotional intelligence – the ability to recognise, understand and manage emotions in yourself and others, which can be applied to the sales process. 

People use intelligence quotient (IQ) scores to measure a person’s intelligence. However, it soon became clear that this view of intelligence was incomplete because it didn’t account for a person’s creativity or ability to cope with emotions. 

Emotional intelligence is measured using emotional quotient (EQ), which has proven to be a valuable quality. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence found that over 85% of senior leaders owe their success to emotional intelligence rather than traditional intelligence, employees with a higher EQ are also more likely to perform better at work and less likely to burnout. 

A high EQ is also important in sales. In one study, trainers put front-line sales managers and reps through a program designed to improve their emotional intelligence and enhance their sales performance. As a result, total sales revenue increased by an average of 12%. Unlike sales methodologies that focus on a product’s features and benefits, sales professionals with a high EQ concentrate on the buyer. Sales reps can tailor their approach to the buyer’s emotional needs and decision-making process. 

The four levels of sales intelligence  

Sales intelligence typically refers to customer data used in the sales process, but Jeb Blout refers to it as different types of knowledge a salesperson can use. Jeb Blount, author of Sales EQ explains that ultra-high sales performance comes down to four distinct intelligences: 

• Innate Intelligence 
• Acquired Intelligence 
• Technological Intelligence 
• Emotional Intelligence 

According to Blount, ultra-high-performing (UHP) sales professionals use each type of intelligence in their process, combining them to engage with prospects.

Innate intelligence 

Innate intelligence refers to a person’s natural ability to recognise patterns and solve problems. Different factors can affect a person’s baseline intelligence such as genetics to upbringing (nature and nurture). 

Acquired intelligence 

People can still learn new skills and increase their knowledge, despite their level of innate intelligence. You advance your acquired intelligence over time by learning new sales frameworks, studying different markets and navigating unique selling environments. 

Sales professionals with high acquired intelligence typically have a growth mindset, shown by a deep desire to continue learning and a willingness to challenge the status quo. These reps are adept at using sales training and coaching to enhance their techniques. They constantly evolve and look for ways to improve their sales process based on experience and feedback. 

Technological intelligence 

Technological intelligence refers to the ability to effectively use and integrate those tools in your sales and involves using CRM systems, social media, workflow automation and data analysis tools. Sales professionals with high technological intelligence can leverage these tools to manage customer interactions and gain insights that drive their sales strategies. 

Technological intelligence is evident in the way sales professionals feel comfortable adopting new sales technology, adapting it to their unique situation and using it to optimise their sales process. 

Emotional intelligence 

Emotional intelligence brings the human element to sales. EQ is a pivotal part of building and maintaining strong customer relations. Sales reps with high emotional intelligence can understand the emotional needs and drivers behind a customer’s buying decision and adjust their sales approaches accordingly. 

Sales-specific emotional intelligence is key to nurturing potential conflicts into opportunities and ensuring long-term customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Integrating the four intelligences in sales   

Sales professionals can apply these levels of intelligence to their sales by first recognising their innate strengths and where they could improve. Take the initiative and look for opportunities to enhance the different types of intelligence through ongoing sales training and other resources. 

Integrating these four types of intelligence helps sales professionals create a more dynamic, adaptable and successful sales strategy that resonates with clients on multiple levels, leading to increased sales performance and customer loyalty. 

Analyse your sales interactions. Listen to recordings of your sales calls and try to spot any changes. What emotions were at play? How did your mood and attitude affect the outcome? 

It can be difficult to analyse our behaviour, so we actively seek feedback from colleagues, managers and even customers. Getting an external perspective can provide unexpected insights into your approach that you may never have considered. 

Here are three ways you can increase your self-awareness today: 

• Listen to recordings of your sales calls 
• Look for any patterns of how you respond to specific scenarios 
• Enlist a sales coach or mentor to analyse your calls and offer advice 

Empathy  

Empathy is the ability to recognise and share the feelings of another. In sales, empathy means casting aside preconceptions and putting yourself in your buyer’s shoes. What are their needs, challenges and emotions? To cultivate empathy, focus on actively listening during your interactions with customers. Pay attention, not just to the words they use, but also to what they don’t say. What can you learn from their tone of voice and body language? 

True empathy also means going beneath the surface to uncover deeper motivations. What would purchasing your product or service mean for the customer? What challenges would it help them overcome? How would it help them become a better version of themselves? 

When you can answer those questions, you’ll better understand the customer and how to adjust your pitch to align with their needs. 

Here are three tips for improving your empathy: 

• Practice active listening to understand your customer’s perspective 
• Use role-playing exercises to put yourself in the place of your customer 
• Ask open-ended questions that encourage your customer to open up 

Social skills 

Improving social skills means learning how to interact meaningfully with others so that you can persuade without being pushy and build genuine rapport, this can include effective communication, active listening and the ability to adapt your approach to different types of clients. 

For example, how do you adjust your communication style when speaking to a detail-oriented client versus a more big-picture client? Are you able to read cues that suggest a client is losing interest? If so, do you know how to re-engage them? 

Improving your interpersonal skills starts with observing and learning from each interaction. Pay attention to which approaches work best with different types of clients. Practice mirroring their communication style – if they’re formal, observe the same formalities. If they’re casual, take a more relaxed approach. 

Here are three ways to improve your social skills: 

• Pay attention to your non-verbal communication and body language 
• Join public speaking groups or workshops 
• Attend events with a wide variety of attendees and start a conversation 

Self-control 

Sales can be a high-pressure environment, making self-control a crucial skill. Ultra-high performers must manage potentially disruptive emotions and remain calm, even in the most challenging situations. 

Consider: 

•  How do you react when a client is indecisive or continuously raises objections you’ve already covered? 
• Are you able to maintain your composure? 
• Can you patiently address each concern? 

Developing self-control involves recognising your emotional triggers and creating strategies to manage them. A simple technique like pausing to take a deep breath before responding can reduce the tension and maintain control. 

If you’ve struggled before with specific situations, reflect on how you could have handled things differently. Learning from these experiences is essential to improve your self-control in future sales interactions. 

Here are three ways you can improve your self-control: 

•  Identify your emotional triggers and plan how you’ll respond to those triggers 
• Practice pausing for a few seconds before responding to challenging situations 
• There’s plenty of evidence that a healthy diet, exercise and good sleep can help you relax, so maintain your physical health as much as possible 

Understanding your buyers’ emotions 

As you work on the above skills and improve your sales EQ, it’ll become easier to understand the customer journey and why they make decisions. For example, emotion initially motivates many customers to purchase justifying their purchasing decision with logic. According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious. 

Logic then comes into play when customers need to rationalise their decisions, either to themselves or other stakeholders, factors like cost, functionality, return on investment and practicality matter most. 

For sales professionals, recognising when to focus on emotional appeal and when to bring in logical reasoning can be the difference between closing the sale and losing it. Ask questions about the prospect’s wants and listen carefully to their answers, paying attention to any cues that suggest a more emotional or logical mindset. 

After connecting with a customer on an emotional level about how a product feels or the status it brings, you can provide factual data or cost-benefit analyses for a more logical appeal. 

Ensure your sales collateral caters to both emotional and logical aspects. Use storytelling and visual elements to evoke emotions and back them up with data, testimonials and case studies for logical support. Understanding and balancing the roles of logic and emotion in buying decisions enables the best sales professionals to connect more effectively with their customers, providing a satisfying and comprehensive buying experience that addresses both their emotional desires and logical needs. 

Using sales EQ to convert more customers 

Applying your emotional intelligence to your sales can significantly enhance your ability to move customers through different sales pipeline stages and overcome any roadblocks, use your sales EQ to create a positive and memorable first impression. Show genuine interest and use active listening to better understand the prospect’s needs, desires, and pain points. 

When the customer objects, emotional intelligence can help you remain calm and composed. 

Use empathy to decipher the deeper reasons behind that objection. Show that you understand and care about their challenges and present your solutions to genuinely support them. 

After you’ve made a sale, your sales EQ will be instrumental in maintaining those customer relationships. Keep in touch with customers post-sale to establish a long-term connection and show that you’re still committed to providing the best possible outcome. Responsiveness to any after-sales questions (even if a deal was not successfully closed) or concerns builds a customer’s loyalty and increases customer retention. 

Final thoughts 

Integrating emotional intelligence into the sales process means salespeople can go beyond traditional strategies and create a deeper, more empathetic connection with their clients. 

A heightened sales EQ means sales teams can engage more effectively with prospects, discerning their expressed needs and the underlying emotional drivers behind their decisions. 

In turn, a deeper understanding of prospects leads to more productive conversations, more accurate client needs assessments and ultimately more successful deals. 

A better understanding of the art of emotional intelligence helps sales organisations increase their immediate sales outcomes while building long-term customer relationships. 

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