DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE SALESPEOPLE: EXPLORING THE LINK BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND SALES PERFORMANCE

Training in emotional intelligence (EI) offers a means for developing the communication and interpersonal skills needed by salespeople to develop and improve relationships with customers. Yet little research has explored EI as a precursor to effective sales performance, and existing quantitative measurement tools have been found to be psychometrically inadequate. To address this issue, an exploratory qualitative study was undertaken. Data collected via one‐on‐one depth interviews provides preliminary evidence of a relationship between sales performance and EI. Implications for sales organizations and researchers are discussed.