Emotions and cognitions as sales drivers

Motivation is one of the hottest topics in the world of sales, right after techniques and tools to use. Several different models have been advanced to explain the determinants of salespeople’s behavior and performance. Specifically, the focus centers on the role of their intentions, as well as the emotions they experience when they imagine something that will happen in the future as a result of their actions (anticipated and anticipatory emotions). The question is how these factors impact the behaviors they enact and the outcomes they attain.

For a clearer picture of salespeople’s behavioral drivers, we need to analyze all the constituent components: interests at play (both material/financial and immaterial/psychological); psychological dynamics (not only emotional, cognitive too); anticipated emotions (what we feel today about the results that we expect to achieve tomorrow, like when we feel happy right now as we imagine our future success); anticipatory emotions (associated with uncertainty such as fear or hope).

Running down the list of factors that condition the behavior of sales people, empathy warrants special attention. By empathy we mean the ability to understand the emotional state of another person and have a similar emotional reaction to what they’re feeling. While high levels of empathy have a positive impact on intra-organizational connections among personnel, there’s no definitive evidence ascertaining empathy’s effect on relationships with people outside the organization (which means most sales activities). In some cases (for example, in B2B contexts), empathy could even be negative; getting too close to customers might mean paying less attention to personal and organizational objectives.

In a study of 154 salespeople in a large European pharmaceutical company, we tested a model for salespeople’s behavior. According to our initial hypothesis, when salespeople perceive that they have a stake in final goals (be it financial, as in a higher pay, or psychological such as a promotion, for example), this positively correlates to anticipated and anticipatory emotions. And the bigger the stake, the more intense the related emotion (be it positive or negative). These emotions, in turn, influence the desire to act. (As an example, if a sales rep feels upset because she might miss an upcoming sales target, she’ll try to do everything in her power to hit it.) Another factor we studied was perceived behavioral control (PBC), which is when salespeople actually believe they have the ability to act in a certain way, for instance they have the competencies they need in a given situation. The more PBC salespeople have over their actions, the greater their desire to act. This last point is positively correlated with intentions, which translate into goal-directed behaviors, and ultimately impact goal attainment.

Running parallel to this emotion-centric process, we also took into account the role of cognitive behaviors, specifically outcome expectations. This refers to the rational (not emotional) conviction that a given behavior will bring about a specific result. In our model, outcome expectations are not only positively related to personal stakes, they also have a positive impact on results. What’s more, when salespeople expect positive outcomes, they’ll be better at problem-solving and achieving their goals.

To test our model, we asked participants to fill out two different questionnaires at two different times. We gave out the first one when the sales reps were given their quarterly targets; here we analyzed personal stakes, outcome expectations, emotions, the desire to act, perceived behavior control and empathy. The second one, at end-of-quarter, measured what they actually did, what behaviors they actually enacted, their perception of the extent to which they achieved their goals, and how they felt about their sales performance.

Our research allowed us to measure the impact of cognitive and emotional dynamics on sales performance. This impact was significant for the most part on positive emotions, and for salespeople with low levels of empathy. In other words, those who were more independent, less altruistic, and more cynical in dealing with relationships were more focused on their own personal feelings, which are essential drivers for achieving their goals. Having little inclination for empathy is a trait that plays a positive role in achieving short-term objectives, such as quarterly sales targets. Future research could extend our investigation to explore the impact on long-term results, such as building customer loyalty.

One of the main determinants of performance among salespeople is their outcome expectation. Just like with a self-fulfilling prophecy, salespeople with a more optimistic attitude tend to get better results. But being more or less optimistic isn’t just a question of personality. In fact, optimism can be fostered through ad hoc training programs, and even more importantly, by adopting appropriate leadership styles that help instill the belief among salespeople that they really can attain their goals.

Given the importance of personal stakes as drivers of motivation, sales directors must set challenging but realistic goals; just as critical, though, is hiring salespeople who have strong personal goals.

Personal stakes that can condition behavior may be either financial or psychological. Depending on the specific situation of each sales representative, the company can leverage one or the other as a motivator. (For instance, younger people are generally more interested in financial incentives, while veterans might prioritize recognition and reputation.)

Managers can also influence the behavior of their salespeople with interventions centering on emotions. One example might be to underscore the importance of goals and emphasize the fact that they are attainable; this would be a way to leverage positive anticipated emotions. Another example could be helping salespeople cope with stress when anticipatory emotions are negative. Generally speaking, emotional intelligence and social intelligence are both crucial for anyone who has a leadership role in the sphere of sales.

Offering greater autonomy by focusing on final results rather than the processes to implement to achieve them is a way to enhance salespeople’s perceived behavioral control of their actions. The same effect would come from eliminating bureaucratic obstacles and introducing training programs to give salespeople the tools and skills they need.

Last of all, low-empathy salespeople are more aware of their personal stakes and more in tune with their own emotions; these are two potential strengths to look out for when recruiting candidates for certain roles (for example, in B2B markets).

Using our findings as a takeoff point, we can extend our exploration to encompass other traits too (such as irony or intuition), to get a fuller understanding of additional cognitive and emotional factors that impact salespeople’s performance. It would also be worthwhile to analyze different systems for managing and monitoring sales, and the impact they might have on the behavioral mechanisms we investigated here.