“Emotional competence is the single most important personal quality that each of us must develop and access to experience a breakthrough. Only through managing our emotions can we access our intellect and our technical competence. An emotionally competent person performs better under pressure."
Dave Lennick, Executive VP, American Express Financial Advisers
Getting to the heart of the matter, if sales people are unable to uncover a personal or emotional need for the prospect to make a change, then they might consider breaking off the meeting, thanking them for their time and move on to the next prospect.
Yes, I know it may be harsh BUT all too often many sales people will continue down the journey without finding what motivates the prospect to buy, and then they wonder why they can't close the sale.
"It's not your motivation to sell, it's their motivation to buy"
No question about it, emotions play a part in sales. There's the emotional side of your clients and prospects, then there's the emotional side of individual sales reps.
Emotions play into every single decision we make and buying decisions are no different. It is my belief emotions and how well sales professionals manage it, is the key to winning more sales.
Sales professionals are leaders: they build relationships, cast vision, and motivate people to take action. Think for a moment... Can the Emotional Intelligence traits of effective leaders be applied to sales professionals?
"It's about having the heart to rise up"
Authenticity in a world full of sales fakes and being genuine with ones follow through is sorely lacking within the sales community.
CORE ATTRIBUTES OF A SELLING FROM THE HEART PROFESSIONAL
Emotional Intelligence parallels so well with Selling from the Heart professionals.
"If you're your authentic self, you have no competition"
AUTHENTICITY
Authenticity is one of the biggest challenges for salespeople in a profession riddled with scrupulous, fake and disingenuous sales reps; that quite frankly many buyers despise them. However, authenticity separates sales reps from sales professionals and this is what buyers want!
It's about moving from being seen as untrustworthy to being seen as authentic and genuine. Yes, you must become a bit vulnerable with yourself as this is where it starts. In order to build relationships and change the way people think, you need to understand who you are and what goods you bring to the table.
Authenticity requires self-knowledge and self-awareness. A Selling from the Heart professional accepts their strengths and weaknesses. They are accountable to themselves. They are connected to their values and desires. They act deliberately in ways consistent with those qualities.
Plain and simple, at the core of a Selling from the Heart professional lies one word... CARE!
PRESENCE
A Selling from the Heart professional is self-aware and is highly capable of moving from being disconnected to being present in the moment.
"Your vision will become clearer only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside awakens."
Carl Gustov Jung
A Selling from the Heart professional continually works to hone in their craft. They are not lost in the anxiety about hitting quota or where the next meeting may come from, they are present in the moment. This is the huge X factor in sales.
In a prospect and or client meeting, they are present in the moment by actively listening. How many in sales are present in the moment? How many in sales are being real in the moment with their clients and prospects?
Unfortunately, many in sales are not present. Yes, they may be present in their meetings but how many are truly present in their conversations? Let's think about this... many in sales ask a few prepared questions, listen for a few key word responses then they pounce like a lion on their prey.
Being present in the moment is all about showing you care!
RESILIENCY
Being resilient is at the core of a Selling from the Heart professional. Sales people take a ton of hits, face a ton of rejection and hear the word "No" often. If you're to sustain success as a sales professional, you must learn to buckle down and move on.
We can ride the wave of taking down deal after deal but what happens when adversity hits? What happens when you lose a big deal or things just don't go your way? A Selling from the Heart professional controls their temperament, understands what self-management is all about and has developed a heartfelt shield of resiliency.
A resilient professional knows there will come a time when things don't go their way. They understand this so they buckle down and do the things necessary to prevent it from happening. They commit to planning, preparation and practice. They commit to keeping their sales and relationship funnel full of opportunities by making prospecting a non-negotiable activity.
"The work I do today will pay off tomorrow"
Slumps happen and your clients and prospects can smell it. A Selling from the Heart professional embraces a resilient sales lifestyle.
MY CHALLENGE
How can you adopt these attributes to become more effective?
Become brutally honest with yourself...
How clearly can you define YOU?
Every day ask yourself...
- Who am I?
- What am I most proud of?
- What am I most grateful for?
- What did I actually do yesterday?
- What did I learn yesterday that I can apply to today to become a better person?
If you would like to know more about how to apply these leadership concepts to sales, please tune into the latest episode of the Selling from the Heart podcast (click on image below)
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.
Selling From the Heart has launched! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.
You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.
In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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