On Being An Introvert In Sales
I am an INFP and work in a career supposedly ill-suited for my personality type: sales. It’s something I fell into after college and found I had natural ability for. Some things about it remain innately hard. Presentations and public speaking are things I had to train myself to be decent at. I strongly prefer working strictly inside when it comes to sales, never to be seen by my customer. I do enjoy networking at events, however. It’s the one time I’m down to mingle.
This article suggests that listening is the skill their top sales talent had most often. This contradicts the stereotypical image of a salesperson — the smooth-talking slickback who dominates the customer conversation trying to push his own product. Listening is something introverts are designed to do, especially INFPs, so it’s no surprise that I’ve always been a top performer in any company I’ve been a part of. From this article:
Where introverts really shine is collecting all the data that prospects let drop and plugging that information into a sales pitch that’s guaranteed to appeal. Introverts can be really patient with prospects who go on and on and on because they know that the more the prospect talks, the more effective the final pitch will be.
Introverts have a way of being more reactive than extroverts. And it’s true that I do my best work with the prospects who talk the most. I may not win (convert) them all, but the ones I do win are of good quality. We get into a lengthy conversation where they tell me their pain points, and I can tailor the discussion to address those.
I had a recruiter recently express surprise when I told him I was an introvert. I was explaining why I had no aspirations of advancing to an outside (field) sales position. “It’s just not my personality,” I said. Having to dress up and make in-person presentations is not my strong suit. As an introvert, I am better at pure language — making a persuasive argument over the phone or via email. You’d be shocked what 100 well-crafted words can compel a person to do.
Cold calling 300 people a day is something that could potentially exhaust an introvert, but I do it everyday. You’re not actually connecting with many people out of that 300, so the number of actual discussions you have is minimal. You can carefully spend your energy reserves to make it through the day. I usually get into the office early, take care of my pipeline first thing, then hit the phones hard the rest of the morning. Mornings are the most fruitful time for reaching people. After a rest in the afternoon, I hit the phones again. I may be an introvert, but I’m not shy — I never hesitate to pick up the phone and dial. Even with the advent of social selling, I truly believe it’s the only way to make sales. I may lean extroverted in this way. I have no fear when it comes to being aggressive in order to make the sale.
Being an introvert doesn’t mean I’m antisocial, either. In fact, my #1 interest is people. I love working with them in any capacity I can. Talking to people all day is exciting to me. I get the opportunity to help people with business challenges. That’s awesome. I don’t view sales as an intrusive thing, or something without value. It’s a form of helping people to me.
There are articles online about how introverts can “improve” to be more like their extrovert sales cohorts. These articles need to go away. Instead of criticizing introverts for how they are not like extroverts, we should be celebrating their differences. I know I’m not the only introvert who happens to excel in sales. There are others…and there is a revolution.
In addition to listening, introverts can use other strengths like research in their careers in sales. Researching involves time alone sorting through details. Extroverts might be tempted to gloss over this because they find the process of research more tedious than an introvert does. But a well-researched lead will always be the most likely to result in a sale, giving the introvert the upper hand. So, I’d go farther than to just say that introverts can do sales — introverts are better at sales.
At this point in my career I am lucky enough to work entirely from home, which is perfect for an introvert. I always found the constant chatter of an open office to be distracting. I’ve never been more focused than I’ve been working from home. I’m definitely past the days of boiler room sales. I’m too old for that shit. Sometimes I’ll get emails from recruiters talking up the sales culture at some shitty company they’re trying to place for, and they’ll excitedly talk about how there’s music playing on the sales floor, people celebrating wins, drinks on Fridays…and I’m thinking to myself, my God, this sounds like my worst nightmare. People want that? Who?
The only caveat I have about doing this work as an introvert is that by the end of an 8-hour day, I am absolutely mentally drained. After work I want to retire to somewhere quiet — quiet being the critical part — to decompress after such a high volume of peopling. It can really take it out of you. I combat some of the exhaustion with caffeine. (I probably singlehandedly keep Dunkin’ in business.)
So if you’re a fellow introvert in sales, keep doing you. You already have a lot of the skills you need to be a terrific salesperson.
