Is empathy needed in a fast paced sales organisation?
Whenever an organisation plans to grow at a double digit growth quarter on quarter, the CEO leans on the CRO / Sales Leader to make it happen.
The CRO or the Sales Leader cracks the whip on the field salesmen (& saleswomen) and sales managers to meet / exceed the goals. The common strategy which is employed is to touch more prospects and fill the sales pipeline. But does that help the team to meet the goals, 9 out of 10 times "no".
The normal tendency of any sales leader is to hire sales people who are high on IQ and have done experience in high value enterprise sales. This hiring strategy may sometimes become counterproductive as these team members are poor on EQ (Emotional Quotient).
What happens if EQ is less?
These salespersons don't have any empathy either internally towards their peers or their teams as well as their customers. When they don't show empathy towards their customer problems, they don't give deeper thought on solutions which could actually solve customer's business problems but are happy with picking up deals with surface or point solutions, thus leaving money on the table.
The million dollar question is how do you hire salespeople with a balance between IQ and EQ. What assessment technique should we employ to measure EQ and how much is enough?
Thoughts are welcome.
GMAT coach
5 年Why should sales be an exception? Empathy is needed whenever you interact with people.
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5 年Vishal..Absoloutely agree with you Empathy is very much required with customers as well with Internal teams.? Specially in SaaS world. Market is competitive and takes time for Sales folks to build trust and relationships in Market place.? In My opinion Yes...It is needed.
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5 年Very true Vishal. In today's world, sales need to be a long-drawn relationship of being a trusted advisor than someone who only shows up at quarter ends to close deals. Organizations need to give more time to the Sales teams to build and nurture that empathetical relation with the customer. But the change is coming. Competitive nature of the market is making it hard. But the ones with deep pockets and patience will survive this transition.