Misunderstanding a customer’s needs can be a deciding factor between a continued partnership or a terminated contract. Many times it is a simple confusion or a lack of communication that snowballs and leads to expectations not being fulfilled.
So what causes these misunderstandings? Often it is not a lack of product knowledge or ability – it is a lack of emotional intelligence. More specifically a lack of awareness of “others” is a major proponent of such downfalls.
Emotional Intelligence has two major subsets – EQ of “self” and EQ of “others”. We might be proficient in self-awareness – meaning we have high self-insight, are optimistic and confident, but effective EQ also requires skillful awareness of others. This area of EQ looks at components like emotion perception, our ability to properly listen, as well as the ability to build relationships, influence and motivate others.
If your sales team isn’t skilled in the ability to perceive and understand the emotions others are expressing or the ability to motivate and guide others toward a vision or goal, your company is losing out. Learn more about Behavioral EQ Training here.
According to Accenture, unhappy U.S. customers cost businesses an estimated $537,030,000,000 a year.
And it’s not just one customer you risk.
Customers are 3x more likely to tell their friends about a negative experience than a positive experience – and now thanks to options like consumer reports, google reviews and yelp, your customer’s negative reviews are visible for the world to see. In fact, 80% of people will not buy from a business that has negative reviews and it takes 10 to 12 positive reviews to offset one negative review.
Before you start losing out on sales over miscommunication or a little mixup in goals or objectives, fortify your sales and customer relations department with training in EQ. Learn more about the Impact of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace with this whitepaper.
Check out our Behavioral EQ Model and learn the various core competencies that address EQ of “self” and EQ of “others”.
