University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Sales EQ
Book

Sales EQ

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

Jeb Blount
Wiley, 2017
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Sales trainers teach salespeople to give their buyers insights, educate them, challenge them and add value to their lives. None of this promotes sales. Emotional intelligence (EQ) does. To make sales, develop strong interpersonal skills, learn to control your feelings, leverage your buyers’ emotions and manage your relationships with them. Master salesman Jeb Blount teaches salespeople how to use the psychology of “sales EQ” to close deals. Despite some rough language, getAbstract finds that salespeople everywhere can learn from his insightful manual.

Summary

The Brown Bag Approach

When he was 23 and new to sales, Art learned a valuable lesson from Joe – his sales manager and a legendary deal closer. Art had been trying to convince the Colaizzi Bakery to lease trucks for its delivery fleet. But Mr. Colaizzi, the bakery owner, said Art’s leasing bid wasn’t competitive.

Art tried to convince Colaizzi that despite the higher price, his bakery would benefit from the added value of having really good trucks. Colaizzi wasn’t convinced. To him, all truck leases were the same. Art explained the problem to Joe, who took him to the local grocery store and filled a shopping bag. Then they went to see Colaizzi.

Joe acknowledged that Colaizzi found his truck rental rates too high and explained, “I came down here to learn more.” Colaizzi was appreciative, but he explained that the fees were higher than their competitors’ prices. Unless Joe could charge less, Colaizzi had nothing else to discuss.

Joe pulled two loaves of bread out of the shopping bag and placed them on Colaizzi’s desk. He asked the bakery owner what the difference was between the grocery store bread and the bakery’s bread, which cost nearly three times...

About the Author

Jeb Blount’s SalesGravy is the world’s most visited sales-specific job board, and he is iTunes’ most downloaded sales podcaster. He also wrote Fanatical Prospecting and six other sales books.

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