Member
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?
Senior Member
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.
Senior Member
I'm an introvert too, I thought I was the only one in here like that!
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.
Senior Member
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!!
YE Veteran
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.
If you want to be rich, sell products and services.
If you want to be insanely rich, create and control markets.
I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
Read The Richest Man in Babylon - first published in 1926, timeless wealth-building principles.
Member
I can handle small talk, but not when a salesman is doing it to me. Thanks for the advice.Originally Posted by Aletheides
Senior Member
I dont think sales is for you.
Member
Hey man, thanks for the advice!
People, introvert or extrovert, can learn to be anything they want to be.
Senior Member
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.
Member
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
YE Veteran
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.
If you want to be rich, sell products and services.
If you want to be insanely rich, create and control markets.
I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
Junior Member
We, those with more introversion tendencies, don’t usually give personal information readily. Fact is, as introverts we listen more than talk. Now guess what our extroverted friends do more of? They talk! So, isn’t this terrific? And, it’s quite a coupe in the way that all is balanced in nature.
By the time we are ready to offer personal information about ourselves
it is likely the time when we are at a heightened rapport in a relationship. That means what we do have to say will more likely be listened to and remembered.
We, again more introversion, are good listeners.You can be effective in small talk without talking. A study by Ramsey and Sohi in the Journal of Academy of Marketing Science around 1998 or so, clearly establishes that a customer’s perception of how well someone who sells listens, has a positive association with trust. Listening includes such behaviors as giving your full attention to the customer, responding to acknowledge understanding and asking clarifying questions.
In my corporate training programs for sales people, customer service
representatives and organizational managers, I offer a six hearing aid
approach to listening. Now do you think who holds the advantage to be able to do this best naturally
Do you have good eye contact when listening? There is substantial research that eye contact communicates caring and interest. The critical point in general is that eye contact when listening is a positive trait. Regardless of the reason that we behave this way naturally because “darting eyes” drain us of energy, our tendency to have good eye contact is part of who we are as introverts, and quite sought after in communications!
Introverts generally take time to reflect before we speak. I am married to an extreme introvert for just over 35 years. He has admitted to me that some times, when discussing something for the first time, he just speaks what’s on his mind. He doesn't reflect about how what he wants to say will affect who he is speaking with, or even what he wants to say. In particular, these are times that he is confronting a situation with one of his employees. I asked him; doesn’t he even pause momentarily to collect his thoughts in some way? The answer over the years is always, “I wish I did!” Gosh how often might that happen with extroverts who sell?
I do hope that you find that with just these few traits that we may have come to think are hindering us in being successful are actually the most critically needed skills to bring to bear to sales success!
You absolutely can be an introvert and be successful in selling.
Patricia Weber
Sales Accelerator Coach
For Introverts, Shy and Reluctant
Junior Member
extrovert here...but when talking to clients, very introvert.
I've actually found that it is quite handy. I don't like long winded salesman, and i'll never be one. Simply say what needs ot be said. For example, I work in graphic design and deal with large clients that have art departments, nobody BS's about with unnecessary jibber jabber ...they just say "we need this, this, and this by then. Can you do it?"
Turn that around, your the introverted seller. "We can offer you this this and this at this price/time. Interested?" Extroverted selling is useless in my opinion. If they aren't interested its much harder to change their mind than move onto the next person, rinse, and repeat...
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