The Importance of Critical Thinking: Logic vs. Emotion in Selling

Swamped by emotions, sellers can make costly mistakes like these:

• Under pressure to make quota, a seller might succumb to a temptation that isn’t entirely ethical.
• Feeling rejected after another “no,” a seller might give up on cold calling for the rest of the day.
• Annoyed by a buyer’s indecisiveness, a seller might skip the call back that was scheduled.
• Overwhelmed, a seller might not put much time or effort into a proposal for a target account.
• Stressed by the loss of a big account, a seller might snap at support team members.
• Excited by a new idea, a seller might talk over a buyer and move quickly through a presentation.
• Intimidated by a C-level buyer, a seller might be deferential and fail to inspire confidence.
• Pressed for time, a seller might go for a quick sale and hastily gloss over some of the details.
• Fearing a lost sale, a seller might offer price discounting that isn’t really necessary.
• Celebrating a recent win, a seller might coast and take a break from new business development.

These are emotionally-driven decisions and choices. They’re not logical because they don’t consider the long-term impact. These are short-term responses to temporary situations.

Successful sellers play the long game. They don’t let emotions impair their effectiveness.

The Importance of Critical Thinking Using Logic in Sales

 Your feelings matter. Emotions serve an important purpose. They are valid and useful.

At the same time, your emotions are not the only or the primary consideration when it comes time to solving problems, making decisions, or evaluating a situation. Emotions can mislead us. They can deceive us. And they can prevent us from being effective in sales.

In this video, you'll get a practical set of questions to ask yourself. These questions will help you get a handle on your emotions so you can use them WITH (not instead of) logic and critical thinking.

But What about Emotions and Making H2H Connections? 

You may, by now, be wondering how this fits with the buyer research and common sense approaches that say it’s important to form relationships with buyers.

These two ideas are not mutually exclusive. You can balance emotions and logic at the very same time that you pursue human-to-human (H2H) connections with your buyers.

Buyers in one study reported that they want sellers to exhibit certain behaviors, including these, more frequently:

• The seller clearly communicates his/her values.
• The seller appeals to me to share with him/her an exciting dream of the future.
• The seller challenges me to try out new ways to accomplish my goals.
• The seller fully answers my questions with information that is relevant, timely and useful.
• The seller shows appreciation to me and members of my team for the work we do together.

These behaviors all have a logical foundation. They require thinking, listening, processing information, making sound decisions, and connecting the dots between choices.

At the same time, these behaviors all have an emotional component, too. They stem from knowing what matters and committing to ideas and people. They require interpersonal skills and connections.

Logics and emotions both matter in selling.