Is Sales Easier for People Who Do Not Emotionally Connect With Others?

Persuading people to buy a product is often much more about them than the products or services that are being sold. Yes, the products or services need to be explained in a way that fits their needs and solves their problems. But for any established product or service, there are multiple alternatives out there, many of which have similar functionalities at similar price points. The differentiation factor often comes down to how the salespeople can find some sort of emotional connection with the potential buyers, tapping into emotions just as much as logic to incentivize and motivate consumption.

It goes without saying that establishing an emotional rapport with potential buyers needs to be very customized. While each buyer of a product or service may have the same demand in mind, how they choose to communicate the demand can be very individualized. Differing personalities and communication skills of each potential buyer means that even for the same product, explanations need to be tailored that best resonate with the potential buyer, in ways that maximize their understanding of how the product benefits them personally and thus decide to purchase.

Going through with such an individualized approach can be quite tiring for salespeople. Of course, each salesperson is not just speaking to one person a day. To consistently connect with each person in sometimes back-to-back meetings at an emotional level can exert a mental toil for those who really believe that the more one can relate to the other party in a conversation, the more persuasive they can get in their sales. By putting in their fullest to be at the same emotional level as each potential client, salespeople can quickly empty their tanks for relating to others.

Given the tough emotional toil of relating to others and the hectic meeting schedules of salespeople, it is worth asking whether the belief in emotionally connecting with potential clients is effective or even warranted for all circumstances. Yes, there is no doubt potential buyers would appreciate those they are conversing with making every attempt to understand their situations and issues but to ask salespeople to equally go above and beyond logical explanations of how available products or services can help potential buyers would risk the same salespeople's mental sanity and employment sustainability.

So how to ensure that potential clients get the best of both worlds, bonding emotionally over sales calls, but also ensuring salespeople don't get burnt out from having to emotionally relate to too many different people over back-to-back meetings throughout the day? Rather than undertaking the difficult and largely unquantifiable task of determining the magnitude with which each type of potential client should be emotionally invested, it might be much more time- and cost-efficient to find salespeople who are both capable of speaking to people as people (rather than buyers) and not be too emotional about the talks.

As such, it might be counterintuitive, but those who consistently put emotional distance between themselves and other people, whether in a private or professional setting, might make for better salespeople. By not even attempting to resonate with potential clients or get to the stage of "I know how you feel," these "emotionally distant" salespeople extricate themselves from the fatigue of constantly trying to figure out what others are going through emotionally and allow themselves to be focused on the important tasks of matching the services with perceived demand.

Such emotional distance is especially useful when it comes to a sensitive topic like education, a field that I currently work in. After all, education is much more than just the impartation of knowledge, it concerns the adoption of personal values through a formalized socialization process, much of which takes place outside the parents' direct control. For parents considering spending significant sums on their children's education, who the children will become and how they interact emotionally parents are questions just as important as the quality of the education.

Sure, the use of emotions is and will always be a matter of constantly striving for a delicate balance. Completely nonemotional robots will not acquire the necessary positive vibes and good impressions needed for the final buy-in. But business is not really about making friends. The need to efficiently conduct transactions, for the maximum benefit of both parties involved, will sometimes require a more multifaceted consideration than what friendships through emotional connectivity can bring. Why not focus on those who are best placed to achieve the balance, rather than prioritizing the emotional touch above all?