Emotional intelligence, or EI, is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and those of others. It's a crucial skill for B2B marketing strategy professionals, who need to communicate effectively, build trust, and influence decision-makers. In this article, you'll learn how to develop your EI and apply it to your B2B marketing strategy.
B2B marketing strategy is not just about creating and delivering value propositions, it's also about creating and maintaining relationships. You need to understand your target audience, their pain points, their goals, and their emotions. You also need to empathize with your internal stakeholders, such as sales, product, and management. By developing your EI, you can improve your communication, collaboration, and persuasion skills, and ultimately increase your impact and results.
Marketing is applied psychology. The modern marketing discipline was founded by psychologists. One does not need to be "emotionally intelligent" to be good at marketing. Zuck didn't build Facebook by being emotionally intelligent. But he did understand psychology. And psychology can studied, just like any other "-ology."
Marketing Consultant | Brand Communication Designer | Advertising & Media Professional
Even in B2B marketing strategy, it's not merely crafting and presenting value propositions; it's about weaving a tapestry of relationships. You delve into the intricacies of your TG, feeling the pulse of their challenges, aspirations, and even the emotions that drive them. It's not just a business transaction; it's a connection. And let's not forget the dance with your internal partners—sales, product, and management. Understanding their needs and aspirations is as crucial as understanding your external audience. It's a symphony, and your emotional intelligence is the conductor.
-Being emotionally aware helps marketers connect with decision-makers in businesses. -It fosters trust by navigating complex relationships and promoting transparency. -Emotional intelligence contributes to positive customer experiences, fostering long-term loyalty. -Emotional intelligence enhances collaboration with diverse teams, fostering a positive team culture.
Learn to communicate effectively with your customers and colleagues. This mainly means learning to be a better listener. One amazing book I'd recommend everyone reading (not just B2B marketers!) is Non Violent Communications by Marshall Rosenberg. It has a slightly surprising title but the approach is golden - so powerful.
When I was studying Spanish at university, I found the quickest way to build a confident understanding of the language was to immerse myself in the culture and I completed a foreign exchange study program. Immersion also works when you're trying to build deeper understanding of your target audience. I'm incredibly fortunate in that my current role allows me to embody our target decision-maker, the CMO. That means I get new opportunities every week to champion what our customers want and need, and support my colleagues with delivering exceptional value by building up our collective EI! If you can't land a job in the ICP for your product or service, however, market research must be an integral part of your B2B marketing strategy.
Before you can improve your EI, you need to know where you stand. There are various tools and tests that can help you measure your EI, such as the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) or the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). These tests can give you an overview of your strengths and weaknesses in different aspects of EI, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management. You can also ask for feedback from your colleagues, clients, or mentors, and reflect on how you handle different situations and challenges.
Self-awareness: Understand your brand’s personality, what you offer, and what others think of you. Motivation: What do you hope to achieve with your marketing? Be upfront about how you want people to react to your marketing. Empathy: How will your marketing be received? Do you have their best interests in mind or only your own? Do they benefit more from the transaction than you? Self-Regulation: Are you able to filter out insincerity, self-interest, and anything else that will annoy, offend, or interrupt? Social Skills: Can you convey your message in a thoughtful, authentic, and humane manner?
I gotta leverage my team to level up my emotional smarts as a marketing honcho. Instead of sweating negative stuff about how I motivate or reading rooms wrong, I'm taking it as a chance grow by hearing them out. Getting the squad's straight talk on where my self-awareness and people skills got gaps can actually help me get more empathetic and chilled. Working on those soft spots will give me the EQ boost I need to crush it.
Assessing your EI level is vital for improvement. Tools like EQ-i or MSCEIT gauge strengths and weaknesses in aspects like self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management. Seeking feedback from peers, clients, or mentors and reflecting on your responses to challenges also aids self-assessment. Understanding your current EI status is the initial step toward enhancement.
How can one gauge their Emotional Intelligence (EI) level effectively? Assessing EI begins with understanding your baseline. Utilize tools like the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) or Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) for a comprehensive overview. These tests dissect strengths and weaknesses across facets like self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management. Seeking feedback from peers, clients, or mentors aids in gaining diverse perspectives. Additionally, self-reflection on your responses to varied situations helps in evaluating and enhancing EI.
Self-awareness is the foundation of EI. It means being aware of your emotions, thoughts, values, and motivations, and how they affect your behavior and performance. To enhance your self-awareness, you can practice mindfulness, which is the act of paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and openness. You can also keep a journal, where you can write down your feelings, thoughts, and actions, and analyze them later. Another technique is to use the S.T.O.P. method, which stands for Stop, Take a breath, Observe, and Proceed. This can help you pause and notice what's going on inside and outside of you before you react.
STOP when you SPOT! Has helped me a lot in creating self awareness patterns. Redefine the problem statement for the audience, take perspectives.
Improving self-awareness, the cornerstone of EI, is crucial. Embrace mindfulness to focus on the present, fostering curiosity and openness. Maintaining a journal allows reflection on feelings, thoughts, and actions. Utilize the S.T.O.P. method—Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed—to pause, observe internally and externally, and respond thoughtfully, bolstering self-awareness.
Self-regulation is the ability to control and manage your emotions, impulses, and actions. It means being able to adapt to changing situations, cope with stress, and overcome obstacles. To improve your self-regulation, you can use the R.A.I.N. method, which stands for Recognize, Accept, Investigate, and Nurture. This can help you acknowledge your emotions, accept them without judgment, explore their causes and effects, and take care of yourself. You can also set goals and plans, monitor your progress, and reward yourself for your achievements.
Self regulations will come with monitoring! Monitoring and analyzing the experiments is the golden principle. Define and reassess the situation from various lenses before you term them as ISSUES and NON-ISSUES. bucket the two seperately and then solve
Enhancing self-regulation, crucial for managing emotions and actions, is pivotal. Adopt the R.A.I.N. method—Recognize, Accept, Investigate, Nurture—to acknowledge emotions, explore their roots, and nurture self-care without judgment. Set goals, monitor progress, and celebrate milestones, fostering improved self-regulation amidst changing scenarios and stress.
Social awareness is the ability to understand and empathize with the emotions, needs, and perspectives of others. It means being able to read the cues and signals that others send, such as body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions. To boost your social awareness, you can practice active listening, which is the skill of paying attention, asking questions, and reflecting back what you hear. You can also practice perspective-taking, which is the skill of putting yourself in someone else's shoes and imagining how they feel and think. Another technique is to use the L.A.D.D.E.R. method, which stands for Look, Ask, Describe, Disclose, Empathize, and Respond. This can help you build rapport and trust with others.
Follow your intuition : when you feel it fits or doesn't fit with someone, it is usually correct. Don't assume, ask others directly so that you can adapt yourself. Great book also to read, that gives some clues about how to break down body language by FBI specialist (!!) : Joe Navarro's "What every body is saying"
Marketing success goes beyond simply selling products or services, it involves connecting with people and creating meaningful experiences. Marketers can develop a deeper understanding of their target audience. By paying attention to different signals that people provide, they can help marketers determine when to take action and what actions are necessary to create an impactful campaign. By prioritizing social awareness, marketers can build stronger relationships, create more effective campaigns, and achieve long-term success.
Elevating social awareness, understanding others' emotions and perspectives, is crucial. Adopt active listening to attentively engage, ask questions, and reflect thoughts. Practice perspective-taking by imagining others' feelings and thoughts. Embrace the L.A.D.D.E.R. method—Look, Ask, Describe, Disclose, Empathize, Respond—to foster rapport and trust, enhancing social awareness through nuanced communication cues.
Relationship management is the ability to build and maintain positive and productive relationships with others. It means being able to communicate effectively, collaborate, and influence others. To strengthen your relationship management, you can use the F.O.R.M. method, which stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Motivation. This can help you find common ground and topics of interest with others. You can also use the A.S.K. method, which stands for Acknowledge, Support, and Kindness. This can help you show appreciation, encouragement, and compassion to others. Another technique is to use the S.M.A.R.T. method, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. This can help you set and communicate clear and realistic expectations and goals with others.
Enhancing emotional intelligence within B2B marketing requires a composite approach. Firstly, it involves fostering self-awareness and understanding personal triggers, biases, and strengths. Secondly, nurturing self-regulation enables professionals to manage impulses effectively and stay composed in challenging situations. Thirdly, strengthening social awareness involves perceiving client emotions accurately and comprehending their perspectives. Lastly, relationship management involves leveraging emotional insights to build trust, thus fostering robust B2B connections. Developing EI in these areas fortifies professionals, enabling them to navigate complex landscapes and forge lasting client relationships.
In the realm of professional growth, honing emotional intelligence and dedicating time to relationship management and networking is not only essential for effective communication but stands out as one of the most crucial aspects to prioritize, fostering lasting connections and propelling one's career forward.
Ability to manage own emotions and understand others emotions is a crux of EI. For B2B strategy professionals, not able to mix up own interests with other emotions will be key. And one needs to be mindful about it by doing deliberate practice around it.
TL;DR - Regularly collaborate with the Customer Success team. Emotional Intelligence comes from developing empathy. One of the most empathetic departments is a well-functioning customer success team. Shadow them on calls, observe customer pain points (Not just what they mention, but also how they behave when navigating through your platform/solution) and think about the customer's experience first. Regularly check in with the CS team to give more reality checks and use that to build the crux of your emotional intelligence. If you don't have a CS team, then the Sales team is your closest bet.
Relationship management involves fostering positive, fruitful connections through effective communication, collaboration, and influence. Employ the F.O.R.M. method—delve into Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Motivation—to unearth common ground and shared interests. Utilize the A.S.K. method—Acknowledge, Support, and Kindness—to express appreciation, provide encouragement, and exhibit compassion. Additionally, leverage the S.M.A.R.T. method—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely—to establish and convey clear, attainable expectations and objectives.
Spend time with your customers...I've interviewed over 100 CMOs for our podcast now and the thing I hear most consistently (for B2B as much as B2C) is a focus for themselves as individuals, their teams, and marketing as a function within the organization to spend time with customers. Emotional Intelligence comes from understanding and empathy. Put yourself on the front lines with your customers as much and as often as possible.
Emotional intelligence is not something you either have or don’t have. It’s something you are born with, but you can lose it along the way. It’s like a muscle that you need to exercise regularly, or it will get weak and flabby. ? Don’t neglect your feelings or the feelings of others. They are important signals that tell you what’s going on inside and outside of you. Listen to them, understand them, and express them appropriately. ? Don’t stop learning and growing. They are essential processes that keep you alive and thriving. Be open to new experiences, perspectives, and feedback. Challenge yourself to improve each day. ? Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Learn to control them, channel them, and use them wisely.
EI is the linchpin of effective B2B marketing, fostering relationships and communication. Assessing and enhancing EI involves understanding oneself and others. Techniques like mindfulness, self-reflection, and methods like F.O.R.M. and S.M.A.R.T. empower individuals to refine their EI skills. Elevating self-awareness and relationship management not only augments professional prowess but also nurtures meaningful connections in the business sphere.
A state of flow can be achieved by being truly curious about everything you work on, everywhere you go, all the time. Try to work on project that you yourself find meaningful, regardless of other qualifications and circumstances. Sometimes this might mean, for example, giving up on opportunities to work in better-paying positions.
Emotional intelligence(EI) is a cornerstone in marketing and sales, enabling us to empathize with customers, understand their needs, and navigate complex interpersonal dynamics, ultimately fostering stronger connections and driving successful business relationships. For some, cultivating EI in marketing and sales may require intentional effort and practice, especially as people often default to self-focus, making the development of empathetic and customer-centric skills a deliberate journey.