Sales EQ How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal

The New Psychology of Selling

The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power?more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process?than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an ever-increasing pace, creating fear and uncertainty that leaves buyers clinging to the status quo. Deteriorating attention spans have made it difficult to get buyers to sit still long enough to ?challenge,? ?teach,? ?help,? give ?insight,? or sell ?value.? And a relentless onslaught of ?me-too? competitors have made differentiating on the attributes of products, services, or even price more difficult than ever.

Legions of salespeople and their leaders are coming face to face with a cold hard truth: what once gave salespeople a competitive edge?controlling the sales process, command of product knowledge, an arsenal of technology, and a great pitch?are no longer guarantees of success. Yet this is where the vast majority of the roughly $20 billion spent each year on sales training goes.  It?s no wonder many companies are seeing 50 percent or more of their salespeople miss quota.  

Yet, in this new paradigm, an elite group of top 1 percent sales professionals are crushing it. In our age of technology where information is ubiquitous and buyer attention spans are fleeting, these superstars have learned how to leverage a new psychology of selling?Sales EQ?to keep prospects engaged, create true competitive differentiation, as well as shape and influence buying decisions. These top earners are acutely aware that the experience of buying from them is far more important than products, prices, features, and solutions.

In Sales EQ, Jeb Blount takes you on an unprecedented journey into the behaviors, techniques, and secrets of the highest earning salespeople in every industry and field. You?ll learn:

• How to answer the 5 Most Important Questionsin Sales to make it virtually impossible for prospects to say no
• How to master 7 People Principles that will give you the power to influence anyone to do almost anything
• How to shape and align the 3 Processes of Sales to lock out competitors and shorten the sales cycle
• How to Flip the Buyer Script to gain complete control of the sales conversation
• How to Disrupt Expectations to pull buyers towards you, direct their attention, and keep them engaged
• How to leverage Non-Complementary Behavior to eliminate resistance, conflict, and objections
• How to employ the Bridge Technique to gain the micro-commitments and next steps you need to keep your deals from stalling
• How to tame Irrational Buyers, shake them out of their comfort zone, and shape the decision making process
• How to measure and increase you own Sales EQ using the 15 Sales Specific Emotional Intelligence Markers
• And so much more!  

Sales EQ begins where The Challenger Sale, Strategic Selling, and Spin Selling leave off. It addresses the human relationship gap in the modern sales process at a time when sales organizations are failing because many salespeople have never been taught the human skills required to effectively engage buyers at the emotional level.  Jeb Blount makes a compelling case that sales specific emotional intelligence (Sales EQ) is more essential to success than education, experience, industry awareness, product knowledge, skills, or raw IQ; and, sales professionals who invest in developing and improving Sales EQ gain a decisive competitive advantage in the hyper-competitive global marketplace.

Sales EQ arms salespeople and sales leaders with the tools to identify their most important sales specific emotional intelligence developmental needs along with strategies, techniques, and frameworks for reaching ultra-high performance and earnings, regardless of sales process, industry, deal complexity, role (inside or outside), product or service (B2B or B2C).

Foreword Anthony Iannarino xiii

Chapter 1 The Mysterious Brown Bag 1
The Lesson of a Lifetime 2
A Front-Row Seat into the Mind of a UHP 4

Chapter 2 A Perfect Sales Storm 7
Meet the Ultra-High-Performance Sales Professional 9

Chapter 3 The Irrational Buyer 11
Nail-Biting Suspense 12
The Answer 12
The Reason 13
To Buy Is Human 14
The Secret Ingredient 17
Approach Buyers the Way They Buy 18

Chapter 4 Pattern Painting, Cognitive Biases, and Heuristics 20
Pattern Monster 21
Pattern Painting 22
Mental Shortcuts 23
People Act on Emotion and Justify with Logic 24
Chapter 5 The Four Levels of Sales Intelligence 28
Innate Intelligence 29
Acquired Intelligence 30
A Thirst for Knowledge 31
Technological Intelligence 32
Emotional Intelligence 33
IQ + AQ + TQ + EQ—A Powerful Combination 33

Chapter 6 Shaping Win Probability 35
Poetry 36
Win Probability Is the First Rule of Ultra-High Sales Performance 36
Fanatical Prospecting 38
The Law of Replacement 39
Disciplined Qualifying 40
Mapping Stakeholders 40
Aligning the Three Processes of Sales 41
Sales EQ and Human Influence Frameworks 42

Chapter 7 Dual Process 44
Sales EQ Balances the Scales 45
Four Pillars of Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence 46

Chapter 8 Empathy 48
The Foundation of Sales EQ 50
Empathy Scale 50
Intentional Empathy 52
Regulating Empathy 54

Chapter 9 Self-Awareness 56
Self-Awareness Is the Mother of High Sales EQ 57
Psychometric Assessments 58
Get a Coach or Mentor 59
Ask for Feedback 60
Write Down Your Goals and Plans 60
360-Degree Review 60
Self-Reflection 62

Chapter 10 Sales Drive 64
Developing Drive 66
Physical Fitness 68
Develop Mental Toughness 70

Chapter 11 Self-Control 72
Managing Disruptive Emotions 73
Genesis of Disruptive Emotions 74
Fight or Flight 77
Cognitive Biases 80
Developing Self-Control 84
Rise Above Emotion and Choose Your Behaviors 93

Chapter 12 Shaping Win Probability Begins with Qualification 95
Chasing Ugly Deals 96
Define the Strike Zone 97
Qualifying Methodologies and Shortcuts 97
Nine-Frame Qualification Matrix 101
Measure Every Prospect against Your Ideal Qualified Prospect Profile 104
Murder Boarding 107

Chapter 13 Engagement and Micro-Commitments 109
Testing Engagement 110
Tune In to Emotions 111
Micro-Commitments 113
Leveraging the Value Bias and Consistency Principle 114
Getting Caught Up in Emotion 115

Chapter 14 Stalled Deals and Next Steps 118
The Bane of Sales Organizations 119
The Cardinal Rule of Sales Conversations 120
Getting Past the Next-Step Brush-Off 122
Ledge 123
Disrupt 124
Ask 126

Chapter 15 Sales Process 128
Disruptive Emotions Disrupt the Sales Process 129
Winging It 130
Complexity Is the Enemy of Execution 133
No Sales Process 133
Aligning the Three Processes of Sales 137

Chapter 16 Buying Process 139
Mapping the Buying Process 140
The Danger of Getting Out of Sync 140
Average Salespeople Dance 143
Shaping the Buying Process 143
Get There First 145
Leverage 147
Average Salespeople Become Buying Process Puppets 148

Chapter 17 The Five Stakeholders You Meet in a Deal 150
The Higher the Risk, the More Stakeholders Involved 151
Know Your Audience 152
Hearts Before Minds 154
Basic 155
The One Question Ultra-High Performers Never Ask 157
BASIC Mapping 159

Chapter 18 Decision Process 160
Influencing the Decision Process 162
Aligning the Three Processes of Sales 163
The Five Questions That Matter Most in Sales 163
Aligning Decision Making with Social Proof 164

Chapter 19 Do I Like You? 166
No Second Chances with First Impressions 167
Likability: The Gateway to Emotional Connections 168
Connect 168
Pitch Slapping 170
Ten Keys to Being More Likable 172
Connecting Is the Gateway to Lowering Emotional Walls and Discovery 173

Chapter 20 Flexing to Complement the Four Primary Stakeholder Personas 175
Four Predominant Stakeholder Personas 176
Director (DISC Equivalent: Dominant) 177
Analyzer (DISC Equivalent: Conscientious) 178
Socializer/Energizer (DISC Equivalent: Influential) 179
Consensus Builder (DISC Equivalent: Steady) 180
Style Personas Shift 181

Chapter 21 Sales Call Agenda Framework 183
Greeting 184
Call Objective 187
Check Your Stakeholder’s Agenda 188
Frame the Conversation 192
Emotional Contagion: People Respond in Kind 194

Chapter 22 Do You Listen to Me? 197
Why People Don’t Listen 198
Four Principles of Effective Sales Conversations 199
The Fine Art of Listening 201
Active Listening 202
Listen Deeply 203
Activating the Self-Disclosure Loop 204

Chapter 23 Discovery: Sales Is a Language of Questions 207
The Tour 209
Alpha and Omega 211
Joe the Interrogator 212
Ask Easy Questions First 214
The Power of Open-Ended Questions 216
Avoid the Pump and Pounce 217
Fluid Dual Process Discovery 218
Developing Go-To Questions 221

Chapter 24 Do You Make Me Feel Important? 225
The Most Insatiable Human Need 226
How to Make People Feel Important 227
The Law of Reciprocity 229
Obligation and Win Probability 231

Chapter 25 Do You Get Me and My Problems? 232
You Can’t Differentiate When Everything Looks the Same 234
The Age of Transparency 235
Do You Get Me? 236
People Buy for Their Reasons, Not Yours 237
The Power of Language 238
Message Matters 240
The “So What?” Smell Test 241
The Fine Art of Bridging 242
The Three-Step Bridging Framework 244

Chapter 26 Asking: The Most Important Sales Discipline 248
Closing 249
Afraid to Ask 250
The Assumptive Ask 252
Shut Up 254

Chapter 27 Turning Around Objections 258
How Salespeople Create Objections 259
Status Quo Bias and Why Buyers Object 260
You Cannot Argue Stakeholders Out of an Objection 263
Five-Step Objection Turnaround Framework 263

Chapter 28 Do I Trust and Believe You? 270
Emotional Baggage 271
You Are Always on Stage 272
One Brick at a Time 273

Chapter 29 Amache 275
Notes 281
Training and Workshops 288
About the Author 290
Acknowledgments 292
Index 294

JEB BLOUNT is CEO of Sales Gravy, Inc. He advises many of the world’s leading organizations and their executives on the impact of emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills on customer experience, strategic account management, sales, and developing high-performing sales teams. He is the author of eight books, including Fanatical Prospecting, People Love You, People Follow You, and People Buy You.