What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)? According to the Institute for Health and Human Potential, EI describes an ability or capacity to perceive, assess and manage the emotions of one’s self and others.
So, it stands to reason that in the world of Marketing & Sales (where the intent is to appeal to emotions and initiate or drive that emotion towards business outcomes), that having a staff with high EI could help improve the bottom line. After all, who better to derive and execute a marketing and messaging strategy than a team with the capacity to perceive emotions and assimilate emotion-related feelings?
It seems logical that EI could be particularly valuable for members of Marketing and Sales teams. So maybe an effective hiring strategy is to focus more heavily on EI (rather than specific achievements or degrees). For example, consider…
- Marketing is most effective when designed around a well-defined target — a staff gifted with EI are perhaps more likely to do what’s necessary to get at the essence of a target’s mindset, buyer personas and a company’s brand and value proposition.
- A staff strong in EI might also be more effective at managing tactics that guide the cognitive process and lead someone to a desired action.
- The role of online/social media channels and the value in listening and aggregating data to better assess behavior and target interests, as well as the opportunity it provides for engagement and relationship-building with your audiences – these are all concepts someone with high EI adopts naturally and easily.
- The other potential benefit in leading and hiring with high EI in mind is it could lead to more effective brainstorming, innovation, collaboration, creativity and integration.
The point is — EI may impact marketing effectiveness. If teams are steeped in its philosophies, you could possibly have better working cultures and more powerful results.
This article originally appeared on Lydia’s Marketing Blog