Emotional Intelligence: What 1985 Can Teach Today’s Salespeople
In my practice as a Sales Coach, I often see my clients caught up with all kind of information before entering their sales call: returning phone calls, checking their voicemails, sending last minute e-mails, consulting social media, or putting the finishing touches on a PowerPoint for a very important presentation to a large customer.
It has become the norm to operate like this on a daily basis, even before meeting with the Big Important Profitable Customer, so vital to their compensation plan and the company’s bottom line. I can’t help but wonder, why are we there as a Sales Community
Although the Internet has made this behaviour common, I can still recall when I started in the sales field in 1985, we had no cellphones or voicemail systems. Some of you might not believe me, but yes, I am old now! Back in those non-tech days, we had very different daily routines and tasks, but also much fewer distractions.
For example, we used to stop in a phone booth to return our calls at very specific times. Since it didn’t make sense to stop every time you got a pager call, we managed our time accordingly. Our prime time with customers was between 8:30am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 4:30pm, so calls were done outside those hours. The clients understood our situation and the tools we used at that time and were OK to pick up the phone when we called back early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
Although the tools were simpler, the work was not any easier than today… it was simply the competitive platform for sales people at that time.
So, where are we heading?
Today, we live in a world where new and more productive tools arrive on the market everyday, where Wi-Fi is omnipresent and all kinds of alerts can be set up to notify us of “important” things. There’s no need for phone booths when your cellphone can be set up to your car’s audio system!
Just take a moment to imagine how this continuous flux of information affects how sales people show up in front of their customers. Imagine their state of mind if they do not reconvene with themselves before going into a sales call with their most important client.
“Salespeople who are constantly stressed and distracted do not truly connect with their clients and therefore have lower sales results.”
Trust me, it happens everyday because that’s the way we live now! In my opinion, many salespeople miss out on great opportunities because of this. They walk into their meeting, but really, they are not present at all. They are still thinking about their last e-mail, their upcoming social media event, the quote they just received, or the customer complaint their raging boss just received over the phone… they are too distracted to truly connect with their clients.
I think it’s time to us to revisit our way of working in today’s environment.
Trying to do more in a chaotic environment is not a good solution. Instead, I propose that we take a lesson from the past and try to do the most valuable thing, in the most productive way. Take a look at your schedule and time spent on your daily tasks and question yourself, “Am I managing my day OR is the market managing my day?”
Finally, make sure to clear your head before meeting with your client by taking a few deep breaths and closing your smartphone. Maybe you could even enjoy some good tunes on the radio as we did in 1985 instead of conversing on your bluetooth?
-Pierre
