[biz123]

It seems that all of the popular selling books I've read come from authors who themselves are extroverted "people persons". In my opinion these authors also ignore the fact that not all people are extroverts like themselves. Things like "small talk" are despised by introvert clients, like myself. We just say, cut to the chase! How can I learn to be a salesman with my introverted personality? Are there any introvert salesmen who can offer some advice? Some book recommendations perhaps?

[1entrepreneur]

This reminds me of a past experience I had.

I am an introvert, by nature.

I applied for a job that was advertised as selling salary packaging to incoming phone calls. I got the job, and it was going well. No cold calling, no face to face.

3 weeks later, I am told I have to go with a group of co-workers to certain businesses, and try to sell to people eating their lunches in the cafeteria. My stress levels went through the roof. I stood like a stunned mullet(fish) whilst my co-workers cold sell by interupting people at tables, or just walking up to people lining up at the food counter and trying to make a sell.

When I got back to the office, I went straight to the CEO(this was a small company), told him I wanted to resign immediately. I told him if I had known the job would involve cold selling face to face, I would never have applied.

20 minutes later, my employment was terminated.

Best move I ever made.

[zharlene]

I'm an introvert too, I thought I was the only one in here like that! It's not that I'm shy or anything, it's just difficult for me to do the "cold selling" thing 1entrepreneur mentioned. But because most of what I do is online, it's quite convenient for me.

If you have to do a sales pitch face-to-face with your customers though, I suppose it takes practice (just like back in school when we had to do presentations in front of class). Don't think about it much, just go for it.

[Fadzuli]

Yeah you are right....perhaps its your mind telling you that you are an introvert..

if you do the SWOT analysis that is actually a weakness that can be overcome. Just like Zharlene mentions, practise is the key. Usually what I would do is just prepare a few speech lines and there I go repeating it over and over again I can get good at it.

It's not rocket science!!

[Aletheides]

If you can't even handle small talk then selling to people isn't for you. But learning how to handle small talk isn't difficult.

Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, you will like this one.

Being introvert/extrovert is simply a state of mind. If you think you're an introvert, then you are one. If you think you're an extrovert, if you aren't yet you will be soon. Thoughts become things.

[biz123]

Originally Posted by Aletheides

If you can't even handle small talk then selling to people isn't for you. But learning how to handle small talk isn't difficult.

Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, you will like this one.

Being introvert/extrovert is simply a state of mind. If you think you're an introvert, then you are one. If you think you're an extrovert, if you aren't yet you will be soon. Thoughts become things.

I can handle small talk, but not when a salesman is doing it to me. Thanks for the advice.

[StealYourDreams]

I dont think sales is for you.

[biz123]

Originally Posted by StealYourDreams

I dont think sales is for you.

Hey man, thanks for the advice!

People, introvert or extrovert, can learn to be anything they want to be.

[Ahern & Brucker]

Do you feel like "sales" is your calling in life or, it it just something you are forced into doing?

If it's a natural calling, introvert, extrovert, whatever label you put on yourself, real or imagined, you will or should be able to use your weaknesses to your advantage... just like you use your strengths to your advantage.

main thing is to be real... and if your "real" is just too socially unacceptable or, the real you is equally offensive to every one in the world than, you need to remake yourself into a better person.

not all good salesman are aggressive or pushy or abrasiv... as a matter of fact, for the most part, they are experts in their field or have a genuine understand ing of the products they are selling and they know their is a market for that product so they don't have to be extroverted. they just have to be right.

Their is a social aspect to sales but with a great superior product you can be a complete schlep and still do well... so, better find that superior procuct, sell "it" and not yourself. or... hire a professional salesperson.

[MisterMcJib]

Originally Posted by Aletheides

Being introvert/extrovert is simply a state of mind. If you think you're an introvert, then you are one. If you think you're an extrovert, if you aren't yet you will be soon. Thoughts become things.

i agree with this. i would consider myself pretty introverted, but when i need to i can psych myself into being more outgoing. the old phrase "fake it till you make it" comes to mind...

if you don't feel like small talking and schmoozing people, just be yourself and get to the point. if your confident in who you are, people will respect that about you. in my opinion, a salesperson who is friendly and to-the-point can be just as effective as one who is very extroverted. for that matter, i think a salesperson can be too "smooth" too; it can be a big turnoff if someone is just laying it on way too thick if you know what i mean

[Aletheides]

You might be turned off by the hard selling approach. I can easily understand that, and this isn't everyones style.

I once worked at a place selling big ticket musical instruments. My manager made $120,000 a year just from selling.

He always encouraged me to just take a seat by his office and just listen to him when he was selling and I always took the opportunity whenever it presented itself. Watching a master at work is very revealing and you can learn a lot.

The one thing I noticed that he was super friendly and when he was selling it didn't even seem like he was selling at all. He was just making friendly small talk about the clients life and for this the clients loved talking to him, he was a genuine guy. But after a topic died out he would make a quick pitch on the product "So are we going to take one of these home today... blah blah" and if they said "No" (which more often than not they of course did) he would just go back to a completely different subject - more small talk again. He would do this over and over and over again.

But the point is, is that the majority of the conversation wasn't centered around the selling of the product, it was just small talk about the clients life. This is something that we can all do - introvert or extrovert - just talking to people about themselves.