Dealing with Emotions
Sales is a logical profession. However, it involves people, so it also involves emotions. Buyers feel happy or upset. Sellers feel confident or self-conscious. How can professional salespeople deal with the various emotions of their job and their customers?
The answer is: understanding. To deal with emotions appropriately, you must understand what they are as well as how to manage them in yourself and others.
The emotions you will feel as you work and live are varied. However, salespeople are most susceptible to the emotion of acceptance or, more specifically, self-acceptance. As you invest your time, efforts, and energy into selling, the success and failure of events can drive you on an emotional roller coaster ride. You're elated at the big sale but disappointed and even depressed about the sale that fell through. Add to these variations those of daily life and you can see that selling can be an emotional job.
Because humans are emotional beings, controlling emotions can be a lifelong struggle. What can you do to manage your emotions? Experts offer these suggestions:
Recognize it. When you become emotional about an action or words, identify the emotion you are feeling.
Learn how to express it. Tell yourself what emotion you are feeling and describe it as clearly as you can.
Try to understand it objectively. Impartially consider the emotion, its purpose, and what it is making you feel.
Control it. If the emotion is appropriate, act on it. If not, modify your response or ignore it.
Why should you recognize and deal appropriately with your emotions? Because otherwise emotions can build out of proportion and impact other emotions. An unkind word to you can trigger inappropriate anger or deep depression. Dealing with your emotions as they arise can help you keep them in perspective.
The same guidelines can be applied to dealing with the emotions of others. A customer yells at you. Your boss derides you. In each case, you can help the person recognize, express, understand, and control the emotion. Be cautious, as not allowing the person to express anger and recognize it can make it fester within them. If you cut them off or challenge them too harshly, you may receive an enhanced emotional response.
For further information on managing emotions in the workplace and in life, read Diane and Terry Berry's book,
Fortunately, you are a professional salesperson and you understand the value of listening and asking questions. Tell me what you mean by that? How did that make you feel? What do you think caused it? By encouraging communication and not responding with equal emotion, you often can defuse a strong emotion and help the other person consider it more objectively.
