As Franklin D. Roosevelt wisely recognized when he took office in 1933, emotional recovery must precede economic recovery. The same truth applies to organizations hoping to prosper when the economy eventually rebounds.

People’s ability to control and use their emotions effectively is a profound indicator of their business success.

Consider this recent discovery by TalentSmart researchers: 70 percent of the most skilled business decision makers also score in the top 15 percent in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, is a person’s ability to identify and understand their own emotions, and those of others.

Leaders with low emotional intelligence (or a poor understanding of their emotions) not only rank among the lowest of decision makers but also consistently fail to recognize that their judgment is being tainted by their impatience, anger or other strong feelings. Low EQ leaders justify their actions using all sorts of rationalization to fool themselves into believing that their judgment is based more on logic than emotion. By contrast those leaders who recognize and appropriately manage their emotions consistently make the best business decisions.

Leaders who manage their emotions well are more likely to bring their company through the recession than those who become overwhelmed by their feelings.

Here’s a comparison of the traits of low and high EQ people.

People with low EQ tend to:
Sound off even when it won’t help
Brush people off when bothered
Deny that emotions impact their thinking
Get defensive when challenged
Focus only on tasks and ignore the person
Act oblivious to unspoken tension

People with high EQ tend to:
Only speak out when doing so helps the situation
Keep lines of communication open even when frustrated
Recognize when other people are affecting their emotional state
Stay open to feedback and criticism
Show others they care about them
Accurately pick up on the mood of a room

Positive emotions spur performance
Emotional intelligence is widely regarded as the secret ingredient for taking an organization from good to great, accounting for as much as 58 percent of an individual’s job performance. Reports of larger corporations using EQ training revealed surprising results.

• Coca Cola, for example, uncovered a 30 percent gap in productivity between division leaders trained to recognize and manage their emotions and those who didn’t.
• Hallmark Communities found that sales associates who developed EQ skills were 25 percent more productive than their low EQ counterparts.
• After T-Mobile developed EQ skills in their customer service reps, they tripled productivity.

Individuals trained to improve their EQ can super-charge their job performance.

Negative emotions diminish productivity
During economic down cycles, employees experience greater volatility in their emotions. Those with poor EQ skills see a diminished level of productivity and performance. Additionally, the palpable stress and anxiety hinders these workers’ ability to instill confidence in customers and co-workers. All of the knowledge and technical skill in the world can’t address a productivity issue rooted in poor emotional coping mechanisms.

Do people buy products and services because they are making rational decisions? Not so says Patrick Renvoisé, a pioneer of the science of Neuromarketing. In this webinar Renvoisé explains how the human brain really works and how companies can influence the key decision-making process of their customers to boost sales.

How do people make buying decisions? According to Patrick Renvoisé in Neuromarketing—Understanding the buy buttons in your customers’ brain, customers don’t always see things the way marketing professionals see them, regardless of their professional diligence. Even though these experts might know with certainty that they have the best solution for their clients, they often miss the mark because they’re not reaching that most primal part of the human brain.

For example, in blind taste tests, Pepsi has outperformed Coca Cola consistently, yet Coke consistently dominates the cola market. As a result, Pepsi commissioned a study that involved the use of MRI’s to unravel the mystery of why their preferred product fell behind when it came to branding; literally looking at the brain when people were making decisions.

Based on the recent development of neuroscience, Patrick Renvoisé—using his engineering background and sales expertise—has developed a completely new sales and marketing model. The result is Neuromarketing—the science of human influence. 

While most assume that humans are rational beings who are sometimes influenced by emotions, the opposite is actually true: we predominantly make emotional decisions and then rationalize them. There is no such thing as a purely rational decision, specifically when it comes to product preferences.

In actuality, we use the most ancient part of our brain—referred to variously as the limbic or reptilian center—for our decision-making. With proper understanding of this primal part of the brain, that “Old Brain” thinking in the customer can be predicted. Marketers can reverse engineer clients’ decision-making process.

There are only six stimuli that the Old Brain responds to:

1. Self-centered—the Old Brain is only worried about itself.
2. Contrast—if there is no contrast, then there is no decision to be made.
3. Tangible—will the product or service be useful according to their beliefs of what is useful?
4. Beginning and End—people will forget everything in-between. This curve has tremendous implications for how you market.
5. Visual—best and fastest way to get to your old brain.
6. Emotion—we are feeling machines that think once in a while.

Anything else outside of these six stimuli becomes too complex to process and understand. To make maximize the buy buttons in your customers’ brain, marketers need to perfect these four steps:

1. Diagnose the pain—reaching the subconscious part of the Old Brain
2. Differentiate your Claims—what separates you from your competitor
3. Demonstrate the Gain—difference between value and cost
4. Deliver to the Old Brain 

By understanding the buy buttons in your customers’ brain, marketing professionals can apply a completely new sales and marketing model to help customers make the right buying decision while maximizing your sales success.