Your sales management team cares about people. They’re inspired by seeing people grow and improve. But coaching efforts are falling short.
Why?
Because effective mentorship—and leadership—succeed when your leaders master emotional intelligence skills.
Anyone can offer advice.
A mentor and leader with EQ skills offers advice—that actually lands and is applied.
Emotionally intelligence leaders are able to:
- Regulate their emotions. If a mentee or salesperson pushes back on advice, the high EQ mentor doesn’t react
impulsively or defensively. Their default is curiosity because they’ve trained themselves to PAUSE and ask themselves, “What’s informing this person? What’s making this individual act this way?” Curiosity leads to more questions and discovery rather than quick, defensive responses. - Deliver the truth with care by deploying the EQ skills of empathy and assertiveness. Because they are attuned to another person’s emotions, they can state that person’s point of view—which diffuses the need for the person to defend and justify their position. This lowers the emotional temperature of the conversation, which allows the sales leader to be assertive, state the truth and share the desired behavior changes. Empathy + assertiveness = CAREfrontation conversations. I care about you enough to confront behavior that is not serving you or the company.
- Avoid becoming the chief rescue officer because they’ve developed impulse control skills. When a salesperson brings a problem to them, they avoid the impulse to solve and provide solutions. They ask more questions and are willing to sit in the discomfort of silence listening for answers long enough to allow their mentee, their salesperson to think and discover the answer for themselves. People believe their own data so when a person arrives at their own conclusion, desired behavior changes happen quicker. And, when people come up with THEIR solution to a problem, self-confidence is also built. A double win.
- Model self-awareness. The self-aware leader models humility and is quick to admit when they’ve made a mistake. They are aware and accountable, choosing not to blame others for their non-productive responses or actions. This behavior creates an alignment with core values which improves trust with the very people they lead. It teaches their teams an ownership mentality. “I own the mistake and the consequences of that mistake.” This mindset and behavior also teaches your team that they will make mistakes—that is a given. But when you make a mistake, don’t move into excuse-land. If you don’t own it, you can’t change it.
- Model other awareness. Empathy is first and foremost a paying attention skill. High EQ mentors pay attention. Empathetic leaders avoid cell phone addiction. They’re not constantly checking their cell phone or any other device. Because their head isn’t buried in a device, they look up and around. They are quick to observe a person who is feeling self-doubt. They offer encouragement, share their own stories of self-doubt, creating deeper connections and real conversations.
Mentorship and emotional intelligence aren’t two separate lanes. They are the same highway.
Build the emotional intelligence muscles in your sales leaders. Create mentors and leaders who are equipped to make a difference and be the difference.
Good Selling and Leading!