In their book Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves share that after testing more than 500,000 people to understand how they respond in typical, real-life situations where emotions are present, they found only 36 percent were able to accurately identify their own emotions as they happen.
The good news is, emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned and acquired through careful study and pattern recognition.
So whether you’re a hiring manager or candidate looking to nail your next sales interview, here are some EQ-based questions to help you along your journey.
I’ve written about this in the past as one of my all-time hungary telegram data favorite questions. Everyone is the best at something! What are they the best at? Not only does this question help you understand the strengths and diversity the candidate brings, but it highlights their degree of self-awareness (critical for coaching and self-improvement), and provides the opening for a related line of evidence-based questions (e.g., “Oh, so you’re great at connecting with executive stakeholders? Tell me about an especially challenging instance where you had to make such a connection.”).
Bonus: Here’s my take on the top 3 superpowers that startup sales reps in particular need to have.
2. How do you avoid “just checking in” syndrome?
Customers don’t often buy on the first sales call (dare to dream!), and nothing is more irritating than a sales rep who calls back week after week to “check in” to see if they’re ready to move forward. There are dozens of techniques for staying close to the customer by adding value and not turning them off. What’s their approach? (Note: Tactics aside, simply identifying that the key is adding value with each interaction is often enough for me.