A solid sales process and flawless execution is an important component to be successful in B2B complex sales. Unfortunately, the sales process alone won’t translate to success. The B2B buyer’s journey has, and continues to, evolve. Sales have become more complex with multiple decision-makers, longer sales cycles, and perceived risk/reward on the buyer’s side.
When interviewing someone for a sales role, it usually revolves around their likability or charisma. There are standard questions around their experience, prospecting techniques, questioning strategies, and closing skills. What’s usually missing is assessing their emotional intelligence. Add emotional intelligence to the interview process because it is becoming a critical skill in complex B2B sales.
Why Emotional Intelligence Is so Important in Today’s B2B Sales Environment:
Empathy
Today’s sales professionals have to be empathetic. They need to put themselves in the buyer’s shoes in a big and meaningful way. This gives the salesperson the ability to communicate and lead by understanding the buyer’s thoughts, views, and feelings. This translates to stronger, more meaningful relationships. People buy from people they like.
Awareness
The salesperson needs to read a room and the person they are engaged with. Having an awareness of the tone, sentence structure, and the speed and rate of the conversation. While remaining aware of the communication, they have to respond and react to body language cues.
Having these skills will help salespeople pivot their interactions because they will recognize when they are taking something too far or too fast. They will recognize if the buyer isn’t ready to hear what they have to say.
A salesperson with strong emotional intelligence will quickly build credibility, trust, and connect without the feeling of selling. People don’t want to be sold to. Not only is this done in person or on a call but through technology such as email and social media marketing.
Add these questions into your interview mix to evaluate emotional intelligence:
- If you were writing a book on managing client relationships, what would be some of the chapters?
- Describe a time when you accurately anticipated a potential problem during the sales cycle?
- Describe a time when you had to deliver bad news or negative feedback to a client.
- What was the biggest ethical dilemma that you’ve faced during the sales process?
- Describe a situation where you had to address an angry or dissatisfied customer or prospect.
- Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone in writing.
- Describe a time when you admitted making a mistake and accepted responsibility for it.
B2B sales have become complex and changes in the buyer’s journey continue to evolve. This is making emotional intelligence is sales more critical now than ever.
Last updated on July 12th, 2020 at 06:52 am
