One Perspective

“I’m a successful salesperson because I have good intuition.”

From the perspective of a veteran sales professional, intuition is a crucial trait of successful salespeople. Some see intuition as a powerful trait that separates great and good salespeople. However, the evidence tells us otherwise.

The Evidence

Research on the performance qualities of intuition shows that it does play a role in a salesperson’s decision-making process. At the same time, there are other elements of successful sales decision-making. Intuition is an input to the executive, deliberative decision-making function. Intuition is part of the mix—a secret sauce of intuition, emotions, and deliberation that guide great sales professionals’ decision-making.

The Research

Researchers David Locander, Jay Mulki, and Frankie Weinberg studied how salespeople make decisions. Their study, “How Do Salespeople Make Decisions? The Role of Emotions and Deliberation on Adaptive Selling and the Moderating Role of Intuition,” explored how salespeople make decisions and what factors influence their choices. In addition, they examined the impact of emotion, intuition, and deliberation on a salesperson’s adaptability and resulting performance. 

The study examined three major concepts:

1. Salesperson self-emotion appraisal and how they regulated their emotions.
2. Deliberative decision-making.
3. The effect that intuition had on their adaptive selling process.

The researchers examined sales professionals from the medical supply and real estate sectors. “Both groups deal with clients making major purchase decisions, and, in both instances, the sales teams were characterized as having high autonomy and empowered to make decisions on behalf of their companies.”

The Findings

The salesperson’s decision-making process consists of three components –

• the intuitive decision process that comes from our implicit knowledge that guides spontaneous behavior
• the deliberative decision process, which requires highly demanding cognitive effort and conscious reasoning
• emotions that must be recognized and controlled

The study results revealed that intuition does play an essential role in a salesperson’s decision-making process. Unlike the myth, intuition alone does not ensure sales success but is part of the secret decision-making sauce. The study pointed out that the best salespeople are rational thinkers who employ deliberative judgments in their decision-making process. Their thoughtful decisions allow them to calculate a sales situation’s cost/benefits analysis accurately. Intuition and “gut feelings,” composed of previous experiences, help guide their decisions. Recognized and controlled emotions allow the salesperson to perceive the buyer’s signals and adapt to the sales situation.

The Takeaways

Considerable empirical research supports the concept that sales decision-making is most potent when it combines the elements of deliberation, intuition, and emotions.

To put the science into action with your own sales team or if you are an individual sales professional, consider the following:

Sales Leaders

• Hire and encourage salespeople who exercise a deliberative decision-making
• Emotional intelligence is a crucial trait that all high-performing salespeople possess and is an essential element of good sales decision-making.
• Sales training and coaching must encompass all three decision-making elements to be most effective.
• Coach your team to deliberate with their decisions. First, have them analyze mental cost/benefit to ensure a strong foundation for their choices. Then, stress-test the rationality of their thinking in your one-on-one sessions.
• Empower them to use their “gut” to guide, not make, their decisions.
• Develop and reward emotional intelligence. Only by recognizing and controlling a person’s emotions can they adapt to each sales situation and deliver the best outcome for your company and your customers.

Sales Professionals

• While your sales call planning, think through the different decision-making scenarios and do some preliminary deliberative consideration of the possible outcomes. Then, when it comes time to decide, your decision-making process will be ready.
• During your sales call, take the time to think through each decision. Don’t just rely on your gut feeling. Remember that, as humans; we default to using shortcuts to make decisions. On the other hand, the best salespeople deliberate, use their intuition, and have high emotional intelligence.
• Use your gut feeling and your intuition to guide your decision-making.
• Don’t use your intuition as your only decision-making element. Used alone, it will fail you.
• Be aware of your emotions. Understand them and control them. In an adaptive selling situation, you must perceive what your buyer tells you. Great salespeople have high degrees of emotional intelligence.

When you think about sales effectiveness at your organization, does it seem like you are close but just missing those unique elements that give you that competitive edge? Looking for a way to understand how your buyer thinks, decides, and reveals information? At The Nova Consulting Group, we believe that professional selling is a craft. With the Advanced Sales Conversation©, you have those missing elements that move your salespeople from competency to mastery. With our deep understanding of what makes and sustains high-performance organizations, we provide integrated solutions that do not replace your sales methodology and yet advance a progressive selling mindset. Be bolder, more insightful, and get results. To learn more about how to master the craft of sales and encourage sustainable high performance, call  (617) 933-7249 or email info@novaconsultinggrp.com.