Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and those of others. It may be the skill you need to develop if you need to convert more prospects to customers. Emotional Intelligence includes:
- Emotional awareness, including the ability to identify your own emotions and those of others
- An ability to use emotions for things like problems solving
- The ability to regulate your own emotions
- Being able to cheer up or calm down another person
Emotional Intelligence Skills
There are many different emotional intelligence skills that can help you improve sales and turn prospects into customers. One of the biggest is “delayed gratification.”
Delayed gratification means that you’re willing to do the background work before you get the reward. You’re patient enough to wait for as long as it takes to make the sale even if it seems like it’s taking forever.
People with high emotional intelligence have self restraint. EI teaches you to recognise and control your emotional states. In sales, there’s a feeling of urgency that pushes you to want to close the sale now especially if money is scarce
The self-restraint of EI enables you to approach the prospect calmly and handle the situation in a way that’s appropriate and effective.
You probably know that building a business is a long term strategy. You know that making decisions hastily isn’t a good idea. But sometimes when a sale is in sight it can be difficult to appeal to reason.
Delayed gratification is a skill every business owner should learn.
If you’re calling and emailing prospects without getting instant results, you may feel inclined to give up. But those who stay the course expecting delayed results are the ones that build a long term business.
This is also the case with networking. When you meet a new business contact, you may want to follow-up with them with an offer immediately. Beware though, it’s better to wait rather than approach them with something hastily put-together or not completely thought-out.
High emotional intelligence lets you map out a strategy and look to the long-term. People with high EI are patient, motivated and focused on the future. They tend to be good at time management (or self management as I prefer to think of it) and they know that the sale will happen eventually.
So, how can you improve in this area?
- Know your values. Keep your values in mind and say “no” when something doesn’t align perfectly with them.
- Know your goals. Identify your long-term goals and keep them at the forefront of your mind instead of short-term gains.
- Learn to plan and prioritize. Take the proper time to set out a plan and see it through.
- Reward yourself. When the sale finally happens, give yourself a reward. It was worth the wait.
- Improve your emotional intelligence. Learn some skills to improve your overall EI and you’ll see improvement in many areas.
The principle of delayed gratification is one of the key reasons why people with high EI are generally successful, especially in business