Recently I came across an article by Lindsay Kolowich on Hubspot’s blog about Emotional Intelligence that was very interesting. For those of us who make our living in sales (or in my case helping people sell) the ins and outs of how emotions affect customers’ willingness to buy has long been on my radar. Whether you are selling a product or service to consumers, selling an idea to your employees, selling yourself or your ideas to you boss, or selling your kids on why they should do something your way, if you use emotional as well as cognitive intelligent you will be more successful.
It’s been posited that there are seven different types of intelligence. Today’s blog is about cognitive and emotional intelligence.
According to Darren Horrigon from CIO the differences between cognitive and emotional intelligence are:
Cognitive Intelligence is the ability to understand information, imagine possibilities, use intuition, solve problems and make decisions.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand the needs and feelings of oneself and other people, manage one’s feelings, and respond to others in appropriate ways.
In short, it’s all about feelings and emotions. Your ability to recognize your own emotions and those of others allows you to help others (in this case your customers) sort through the emotions that go along with allowing themselves to buy a product or service when they want to but think they shouldn’t.
Dr. Daniel Goleman, a scientific journalist and Dr. Richard E, Boyatzis came up with a model that splits emotional intelligence into four different categories. The four categories are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Knowing these competencies is only the fist step, according to Ms Kolowich, you also need to understand them, manage them and use them to perform.
In next week’s blog we will separate these four categories and talk about the skills you need to become more Emotionally Intelligent.
A tip of the glass from me to you.
E Column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
