Sales EQ

 
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If two products are identical and both meet a company's needs, what makes the buyer choose one salesperson over another? The decision comes down to whom they want to work with, and Sales EQ takes a deep dive into the psychology of why buyers buy, and the emotional barriers that hinder sales professionals from performing at the highest level. It discusses the differing approach of Ultra High Performers (UHPs) in various sales scenarios, shares the soft skills that tip the probability of success in their favour, and offers a framework to emulate these behaviours. Some standout points are:

  1. Understanding cognitive dissonance and how to manage an egocentric customer bias. Jeb shares a way of asking the right questions to avoid a potential roadblock.

  2. The process of identifying Ideal Qualified Prospects (IQPs) and removing hope from your sales strategy. This is a complex emotional process, and this chapter shares how UHPs maximise their win probability by employing a rigorous 9-stage qualification process.

  3. Testing prospect engagement by gaining micro-commitments, and judging your position from an emotional standpoint.

  4. Identifying and selling to different types of stakeholder, namely Buyers, Amplifiers, Seekers, Influencers and Coaches (the BASIC framework).

  5. Murder Boarding your deals: Having the self-awareness to explore every conceivable reason to lose a deal, including a potential emotional disconnect with your prospect.

  6. Understanding the self-disclosure loop and how it causes a dopamine dump or "brain crack" as Jeb calls it. This same process, which causes verbal diarrhoea in salespeople, can be used to great advantage when flipped to the buyer by asking the right questions to generate rapport and a positive feeling.

Quoting from the book, Jeb Blount explains, "the most frequent reason salespeople fail in the sales process is the inability to regulate and manage disruptive emotions." Sales EQ empowers professional sellers to differentiate themselves, by understanding and better managing the emotional barriers to success.

 
Book ReviewLee Bartlett