The Best Sales People and Emotional Intelligence

 Incubate Consulting's Neil Brown shares his insight on what makes the best sales people.

Jordan Belfort: Sell me this pen.

Brad: Write me your name on this napkin.

Jordan Belfort: I can’t, I don’t have a pen.

Brad: There you go, it’s a matter of supply and demand

-The Wolf of Wallstreet.

Working in the profession that I do, I’m fortunate enough to speak with business leaders almost every day about their companies’ commercial functions. Whether this is with an established business keen to add to a sales or BD function, an emerging business which needs a more structured approach towards developing market presence, or perhaps a company just seeking to ‘up-weight’ their business development function to deliver on ambitious growth plans.

Whatever the reason may be, initial and very high level specification tends to always follow a fairly common theme: “We need a sales animal, a BD machine”------ or a “Monster Closer”’ to paraphrase….

A commonly asked question at this stage is: “What do you think makes a great sales person?” Having specialised in delivering senior commercial talent solutions for more than 10 years, theoretically I should have an idea, right? One thing I’m sure of is that it comes down to more than just supply and demand.

General consensus would assume the great salespeople out there are the ones that can demonstrate:

• Highest activity levels
• Best conversion ratios
• Most profitable margins
• Top position on sales board
• High levels of commission

However, assessing sales talent purely on current or recent performance metrics is risky. Salespeople may be sitting at the top of their sales tree because they are working receptive markets, capitalising on existing relationships, or perhaps just have the best products/services to take to their marketplace. There are lots of variables….

For me, and this is just my view and I would most definitely welcome yours, the very best that I meet possess one common trait; a high level of Emotional Intelligence.

Those in possession of this inimitable quality are invariably the most versatile sales professionals, capable of switching sectors and markets with relative ease continually adapting their personal style to match that of each customer.

These are the salespeople who are the most considered, self-aware, self-regulated and focused as much on their own personal impact as that of their products or solutions on the end user. I would add that sales executives with the highest levels of emotional intelligence tend to be better at:

• A robust pre-sale/evaluation approach
• Adopting a naturally relaxed engagement style
• Utilising flexible selling models
• Assessing body language
• Being attentive listeners & agile thinkers
• Challenging conventional thinking
• Being empathetic
• Building meaningful relationships
• Developing trust

In short, their wins are a natural conclusion to a considered well thought out process rather than a fortunate outcome. Importantly, if they don’t land the business they survey the entire process, identify key learnings and factor these into their future deal architecture, naturally resilient and smart enough to review and take customer feedback.

For me, looking for the highest levels of Emotional Intelligence first and foremost when assessing commercial talent for my clients delivers the best results.

Incubate Consulting are experts in recruiting Sales, Marketing & Digital professionals in Scotland. If you would like to discuss great sales people with Neil, please comment below, or for a more discreet conversation call directly on 07917 458 066.