Six Powerful Tips for Increasing Sales Using Emotional Intelligence

Share these with employees to increase "customer buy-in", reduce employee stress, and experience a little more fun including job satisfaction.

While it’s true that some people have a higher innate potential than others to use emotional intelligence, anyone can improve his or her emotional intelligence application abilities with a little bit of practice. 

In order to maximize customer satisfaction, you need to tune in to your customers’ shifting emotional needs and respond to them effectively.  Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Focus on your customers’ emotions, not your own.  The more you practice observing and analyzing customers’ changing emotions, the better you’ll become at it.  Soon you’ll be able to actually anticipate and shift undesirable emotions into positive territory.
   
2. Validate your customers’ feelings by using empathetic language.  Respond to dissatisfaction with affirming statements such as, “I can certainly understand your concern about these compatibility issues.”

3.   Use emotional language when addressing performance goals.  Ask questions such as, “How can I make sure that you’re happy with this project?”

4.    Anticipate your customers’ concerns and address them proactively.  This reassures your customers that you understand them and are looking out for their best interests.

5. Be aware of the signals you send through your body language.  Some habits, like frowning while concentrating, can unintentionally communicate rudeness.

6. Tailor your service to individual customer needs.  Some customers like to be involved with everything you’re doing.  Others may want you to just get it done and report back when finished.  The more you understand your customers’ idiosyncrasies, the more they’ll feel like you understand them.

These techniques can also be useful in dealing with coworkers.  In fact, you can improve all your relationships — both professional and personal — by developing your emotional intelligence, so why not get started today?

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