as difficult to manage as the person who ranked high in critical mass. In
fact, we later discovered that a low critical mass rating resulted in more
stress not just for the sales manager, but for the account executive as well.
It only made sense that low critical mass ratings would cause high degrees
of stress for individuals engaged in careers requiring psychological and
emotional intangibles that they did not come by naturally.
Our discussions of critical mass factors for sales success with groups of
sales managers provoked some interesting questions, including:
- Why don’t we pay more attention to these four attributes when we
are interviewing for sales positions?
•Wouldn’t it be helpful to make account executives aware of these in-
tangibles as keys to their success?
•Would it be helpful and instructive to have account executives fill
out a critical mass report card on themselves?
CHALLENGING OUR OWN ASSUMPTIONS
After we completed our E=MC^2 experiment, we had to decide what we
could or should do with the information and observations we had gath-
ered. The first thing we realized, by virtue of presenting this information to
others, was that one of our original assumptions when we began this study
was wrong. We commenced this experiment with the idea that the critical
mass intangibles we were looking for were organic in a person’s nature and
could not be taught. The reaction we witnessed with managers and account
executives taught us, however, that this was not so much a nature vs. nur-
ture issue as it was an awareness issue.
It is true that, by nature, some people are more competitive, achieve-
ment oriented, teachable, and more fluid of wit than others. But we also
noticed that once people became awarethat these factors bred success, they
began to pay more attention to these factors and, consequently, improved
themselves.
We began to hear account executives make comments such as:
- “I really need to focus on lightening up in stressful situations and dis-
playing wit. I’ve got it, but I just never thought of using it in those
predicaments.” - “I need to work on holding myself to higher standards and keep fo-
cused when things go wrong.” - “I now realize that I have been so competitive that I became unteach-
able. I took input and criticism as a threat. I think my lack of teach-
46 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE