80% of all marketing majors go into sales roles, but paired with a lack of formal sales education, many graduates are left floundering. To discuss the future of sales education, we’re joined by someone who helps future sellers put theory into practice. Our guest this week is Associate Professor at Florida State University, Leff Bonney!
Leff and Tim sit down for a conversation on the challenges of providing formal sales training, and a discussion on an upcoming report on the role of EQ. Leff shares his insights into why you need to focus on differentiation, how to overcome perceptions about sales as a profession, and why EQ is the tool box that holds all of your sales tools.
Takeaways:
While high EQ is focused on in sales and talked about as being a crucial skill, there is a lack of academic knowledge on it. With the new study from Uniphore and Leff, sellers can start to fully understand how EQ works, and the role it plays in sales.
Sales is a crucial position for any company, but there is a lack of formal education around the profession. As 80% of all marketing majors go into sales, FSU saw a need to better equip graduates with training to prepare them for their future roles.
When a college only teaches sales, the course load leans heavily on the personal experience of the teachers. Because FSU also conducts sales research, they can back up their teachings with verified knowledge from their studies.
For a sales student at FSU, their first class is focused on re-examining the mindset around sales. From there they go on to sales behavior classes, classes that focus on role play and feedback, and sales management courses.
EQ is not a factor, it’s the factor. EQ is not a standalone skill in the same way presentation ability or objection handling is, rather, EQ is an accelerant that betters every other skill a seller has.
It’s not enough to make your sellers better, you need to also make them different. As training and technology has gotten better, most sellers have gotten better in the same ways. Without differentiation, competing brands end up in a sales stalemate.
Sellers are great about remembering facts from their conversations, but not sentiments. Just because a buyer mentions a feature, doesn’t mean they like it. Sellers need to focus on how buyers feel, so they can discuss the right elements on sales calls.
Quote of the Show:
“It's not just about being better. It's what does EQ do for us in our sales organization by being different, and that's important.” - Leff Bonney
Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leff-bonney-03b63452/
- Website: https://salesinstitute.business.fsu.edu/
Ways to Tune In:
- Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b2b-eq/id1672326834
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1T2zlqNsSYATzXFPH1DquY
- Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mYXN0Lndpc3RpYS5jb20vY2hhbm5lbHMvajRuNnNjYmc2Ni9yc3M