The Sales Agility Code: Deploy Situational Fluency to Win More Sales

CHAPTER 7

An Examination of Situational Intelligence

Have you ever been to a dinner party where it was obvious that one couple had had a big argument on the way over? Have you ever walked into a room and had the sense that you were interrupting something? Most of us have, which means most of us have had experience with situational intelligence.

In each of these situations, you used your senses to gather information. You noticed a tone of voice, the body language, or other nonverbal cues like flushed faces. You then used your knowledge of societal norms and the people involved to make sense of what your senses were telling you. Some people are exceptionally good at doing this—don’t we all have a friend who can quickly and accurately size up any ...