door of awareness stands between your emotional and rational self. When
this door is closed, the emotional part of the brain can sabotage and pol-
lute your every effort. The rational part of your brain will then begin to ra-
tionalize every word and deed you used to sabotage and pollute your own
efforts. With this door of awareness closed, we make poor decisions, and we
expend rational energy in justifying those decisions.
When this door of awareness in the brain is opened, however, the emo-
tional and rational sectors of the brain begin to act in harmony. The emo-
tional part of the brain becomes subservient to the rational. Emotional
energy is channeled in healthy and productive manners, and you become
a much easier person for others to deal with because you are more at ease
with yourself.
The doors to success are opened by being aware of the issues that can
and do derail us in our pursuits and relationships. Five key areas to be
aware of if you want to succeed in a sales career are:
1.Awareness
2.Restraint
3.Resilience
4.Others (empathy)
5.Working with others (building rapport)To begin this awareness process (and to provide a point of reference), I
have created the ARROW Profile.This self-assessment will allow you to gauge
your strength in these five key areas of emotional intelligence. The acronym
ARROW serves as a metaphor for what stands between us and our targets.
FLY STRAIGHT TO REACH YOUR GOALS
In sales, the sales professional’s goals are constantly emphasized. Every-
one is concerned with targets—the company has its goals, and the employ-
ees have their individual goals. By what means or skill set will we reach that
target? One critical skill set is our ability to navigate the emotional land-
scape with clients and to keep our own negative emotions in check.
Think of goals as our target, and think of our emotional competencies
as the arrow that will help us to reach that target. If our arrow is crooked
or broken, no amount of strength training, concentration on taking aim,
hype, and motivation about the target will help us reach it. Without a
straight arrow, everything else is futile and will only lead to frustrated
archers and target providers (companies). Let’s now reach into our psy-
chological quiver and check the state of our arsenal.
2 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE