Exploring the association between emotional intelligence and superior sales performance when moving from a transactional to a consultative sales culture

Companies today face many challenges in a new global economy of increased competition and pressure on margins. One challenge is that employee behavior, attitudes, and skill sets have not kept up with the new technology, and this is especially evident in the sales force of many organizations, which contribute directly to the bottom line of a business. This research examines the need for an organization's sales professionals to change from a transactional approach to a consultative approach; that is, instead of focusing on a particular product and a one-time transaction, to develop long-standing relationships with customers in order to understand their context of need for business solutions to complex problems, and not their need for just a product.; The present case study concerns a 100 billion dollar, Fortune 500 U.S. company trying to grow market share and change its culture when its printers began losing market share to advanced copiers with printing functions. The study traces the company's history and its struggle, amid mergers, to reinvent itself as a sustainable organization. The case study uses two instruments---one based on LogicBay's characteristics of TechCo's high- and average-performers in sales, and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test---along with interviews to examine the characteristics of high-performing sales professionals as compared with average-performing sales professionals. In particular, the study examines whether emotional intelligence is a factor among the high performers.; Results indicate that emotional intelligence plays no role in accounting for the high performers' sales success. However, when combined with knowledge about consultative sales skills, emotional intelligence may be a contributing factor because when considering these two variables, there was a slight increase in sales performance.; Specifically, this study contributes to a dearth of research on emotional intelligence and sales, and to a topic important in the development of today's organizations and their bottom line: the shift from transactional to consultative sales. More broadly, this research is relevant to any organization whose business model has changed because of technology but whose culture has not kept pace.; Keywords. sales performance, emotional intelligence, consultative selling...