AI + EQ Spectrum - For Elite Selling

A powerful blend of advanced AI skills and high emotional intelligence will define the future salesperson. They will adapt to new technologies and methods that enhance their top performance. Some of these skills are covered throughout this book, and others will be played out as artificial intelligence matures from early-stage (now) to middle and post-maturity. We can only speculate about what these new requirements entail and prepare for the upcoming updates.

The 21st-century salesperson is tech-driven and human-centric. They are skilled at leveraging AI for lead research, predicting buying behavior, automating workflows, and hyper-personalizing at every touchpoint. They use AI for analytics, forecasting, and efficiency, but center the sales process around genuine relationship-building and customer trust.

In the 2-axis view of AI and EQ, we have two intelligence scales that intersect in elite selling.  On the AI spectrum, we have the continuum from low to high: ANI (artificial narrow intelligence), GPAI (general-purpose AI), AGI (artificial general intelligence), and ASI (artificial superintelligence).  We are quickly moving through the phases as more and more advancements in AI become available in our workplace, tools, and lifestyles.  AGI is emerging as we shift to reasoning, learning, and problem-solving. ASI is still a bit like science fiction as we develop more intelligent systems that compete with human intelligence and autonomous self-improvement.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) has its own parallels to AI, with direct parallelism in our emotional states.  We have all experienced emotional recognition when interfacing with early AI technologies to request query results or perform minor tasks.  However, as we ascend the AI hierarchy, the emotional intelligence ladder grows to support heightened awareness, root-cause analysis, and advanced emotional awareness at the highest levels of AI, known as superintelligence.