In this video, we discuss how to sell when you are an introvert. In some ways, it can be more challenging to be a successful salesperson when you are an introvert, but I believe there are small things you can do to overcome those challenges, and I discuss those in this video.
Mindset
The first place to start with how to sell when you are an introvert is to improve your mindset and how you view your sales abilities. And with that, I want to first dismiss a belief that many have which is you are born a salesperson, and if you don’t have a certain personality and set of natural traits, you cannot be a successful salesperson. I personally do not believe this, and I view selling as a skill, and it is one that you can learn and develop regardless of your personality.
Gift of Gab
One thing most extroverts have is more of a gift of gab and being able to quickly think of something to say and keep conversations going. This is definitely an advantage when working as a salesperson because you have to talk with a lot of different people and get conversations going.
If you are an introvert, most likely you do not have the gift of gab, and it can sometimes be difficult to always have something to say. This is certainly a challenge, but I believe you can overcome this challenge if you are strong in three different areas:
1. Ability to communicate
Do you have the ability to communicate in a professional manner? Sure, you may not be really talkative, but are you able to talk with strangers and communicate at a minimum level?
What I mean by that is that there are certainly some introverts who have trouble simply talking and keeping eye contact. For that extreme type of introvert, not only will selling be difficult, but they will most likely not enjoy working as a salesperson. But if you are just more reserved and do have the ability to talk and communicate, you can work through how to sell when you are an introvert.
2. Ability to learn
Do you have the ability to learn? In other words, if I teach you a process of steps, are you able to learn and follow the steps?
The reason for this is that what the gift of gab gives an extrovert is the ability to improvise and think of something to say very quickly. If you do not have that ability, you can work around it by learning different things to ask and talk about ahead of time and different processes to take the prospect through.
3. Ambition and drive to succeed
Do you have a medium to a high level of drive and ambition? If you are an introvert and you are driven to succeed and win, I believe you can fight through the disadvantages that come with not having the gift of gab and being as talkative. You need this quality whether you are an introvert or extrovert, but you will need more of this to overcome the challenges that you will face with how to sell when you are an introvert.
Asking Questions is the Key
One of the main tricks for how to sell when you are an introvert is to ask a lot of questions. These are very helpful because questions get the prospect talking, so you don’t have to. If you ask an open-ended question that gets the prospect talking, you can sit back and focus more on listening and then have time to think about what to say or ask next.
The other great thing about questions is that you can think of what to ask ahead of time and before you call or meet with a prospect. If you rely on the gift of gab, you will try to think about what to say at the exact moment. But the great thing about questions is that you can make a list of questions and plan ahead of time so that you don’t need to be extremely quick in terms of always having something to say. You can also ask the same questions when you go from one prospect to the next, so it will be easier for you to remember and think about what to say over time.
We hope this gives you some good ideas for how to sell when you are an introvert!