Empathy is perhaps the most important soft skill we can develop for better interpersonal interactions in sales. Empathy is the ability to identify with another person’s experience. While we often think of empathy in terms only of identifying with someone’s pain or negative experience, we can apply empathy in a variety of situations. Developing empathy allows us to imagine ourselves in another person’s shoes, to respond to others, and even to vicariously experience others’ feelings of emotions. When we demonstrate empathy, we create connections with others, which can help to build teamwork or otherwise create shared goals. Empathy also helps to forge stronger interpersonal connections between team members and colleagues, which is as important as shared goals or complementary skills when it comes to accomplishing work.

There are four key components to Emotional Intelligence:

·        Self-awareness: The ability to recognize our own feelings and motivations

·        Self-management: The ability to appropriate express (or not express) feelings

·        Social awareness: Our ability to recognize the feelings and needs of others, and the norms of a given situation

·        Relationship management: Our ability to relate effectively to others

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