In today’s fast-paced digital and ever changing world, it’s been easier than ever to connect with people for business. You can shop online for shoes at two in the morning in your pajama from your bed. You can get a quote while lounging by the beach with your friends and you can instantly find opinions, reviews and complaints about virtually every business, service or product within seconds. All of this online information matters to consumers and research shows that almost 60% of a purchase decision is made before the customer even talks to a supplier.
It’s also clear that those businesses that are more technologically-savvy and use the latest digital methods to operate, promote themselves, engage with customers and grow their businesses have an upper hand. But more often than not, they lack that deep emotional and physical connection we crave as human beings, that is essential to live a balanced life.
So is there a place for getting emotional in business and getting personal with your clients? YES! Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions and it is actually essential to run a successful business.
Emotions in business play a large role in how an entire organization communicates within itself and to it’s consumers. The consequences of emotional states in people working on a business project together, both behavioral and attitudinal, have substantial significance for individuals, groups, and society. For example, positive emotions during a project can help those involved obtain favorable outcomes including achievement, career enrichment and higher quality social context. Negative emotions, on the other hand, such as fear, anger, stress, hostility, sadness, and guilt, increase the predictability of workplace deviance and how the outsiders view the organization.
Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for. ~ Zig Ziglar
Over the past years, and especially in the beginning of creating my business, I’ve had my own share of emotional breakdowns from riding the ups and downs of the rollercoaster of being an entrepreneur. Business can be totally exhilarating one day and just plain exhausting another.
The secret to the survival of your business lies in learning how to ride these waves of deep emotions and triggers, without letting it have negative impact on what you are trying to accomplish. It’s almost like taking care of a baby. If you are a healthy and emotionally stable parent, you would not have your anger outburst or scream out in profane language in front of your baby. You would take your heavy emotions and go deal with them somewhere else.
The same goes for your business. If something goes wrong, or a client suddenly takes a turn from your previously discussed plans, getting upset with them or getting yourself worked up and stressed out over the situation is probably one of the worst things you could do, other than keeping your emotions bottled up to create even more messy situations. Emotions are feelings in motion. They need to move!
I get mad. I get sad. I have all those emotions. But I just like to keep them to myself. I don’t think my fans need to be bothered with if I’m mad or sad about something. I should just be concerned that they are keeping up with my music or I’m making them happy with my show. ~ Demi Lovato
Letting yourself fully feel your emotions and letting them pass through in a quiet and safe space (bathroom or private office), can create wonders for your business and your clients. Emotions like anger, hate, or distrust, usually only last a few seconds, but by keeping them bottled inside we can end up holding on to them for years. However, by allowing the emotions pass in a healthy way, you will enter a new space of clarity and then you will be able to handle the situation with a new, fresh perspective that is in the end often better for both you and the client. Emotions can help you steer your business in the right direction, or they can kill it. It’s your choice, so choose wisely.
For more Business tips just select the Becoming Entrepreneur category on our blog 😀 or contact me to schedule a complimentary consulting session.
With Love,
Hanni B.
