October 23, 2023- While traveling with a medical device salesperson recently, we stopped by a surgery center to deliver a product presentation/demo. This rep has been selling for about 10 years and was very familiar with the surgery center environment. Prior to becoming a medical salesperson, this rep worked as a biomedical engineer in a hospital, so certainly had the “smarts” to add value to the customer.
But here’s where things went south. After unwrapping cords for 10 minutes, trying to find a plugin, and passing out 20-page stack of brochures, this “seasoned pro” launched into a tirade of features, clinical data, and meaningless stats. After about 20 minutes, the physicians and office staff looked as if they were weighing the benefits of running for the exit. But the worst part was, the salesperson was clueless to their body language and tone of voice. Needless to say, we didn’t get the order that day.
But we could have.
They had a need, and we had a great product. Yet this rep’s lack of awareness of what was happening in that room crushed the deal.
You see, in our world of selling, while it’s crucial to know our product like the back of our hand and have our product, industry and clinical knowledge down pat, there’s something else that can really give us the edge: Emotional Intelligence (EI). It’s that secret sauce, the magic ingredient, that… well, you get the picture.
In simple terms, EI is being smart with feelings – yours and theirs. It’s about understanding when your client’s expression screams “bored” even if they’re nodding along. Or, EI is when to hold off pushing that premium package because you can tell they’re still on the fence. It’s the kind of intelligence that doesn’t care about your GPA or how long you “carried the bag,” but makes all the difference when getting prospects to open up and participate in an honest conversation.