You don’t have to be an Extrovert to Sell
One of the myths about selling is that the best salespeople are extroverts. A lot of people believe that you need to be an extrovert to sell well. I’m here to tell you that that just isn’t true.
You can be an Extrovert – but you don't have to be
We often think about selling as talking to people. The picture we have in our head about what a salesperson is like is often an extroverted person in a suit. This picture might have come from being sold a car by a person like that – or by the stereotypical salesperson depicted in TV shows and movies.
Often when people join our B2B Sales Courses, the thing that they are most worried about is feeling like they will need to go against their natural instincts and be more extroverted.
It is true that extroverted people often gravitate to sales because they like people. But it certainly is not a pre-requisite. And the big secret – sometimes extroverts aren’t the best salespeople.
Why is that? Because sales isn’t about talking to people – it’s about listening and having a two-way conversation with them.
B2B Sales is about solving Business Challenges
Selling to businesses is about understanding what their challenges are and working with them to help find good solutions for those challenges.
To be able to do that – we need to listen to people and give them a chance to speak. We also need to be comfortable with the idea that our product or solution may not be the best fit for everyone. Better to go and speak with those customers who do need our help than to keep pushing something at someone who doesn’t need it.
Likewise, if we are really confident and believe that our product is the best solution for them – we should feel comfortable following up with them and helping them to get the great solution happening as soon as possible.
But I feel nervous interacting with People
That’s perfectly normal. Even the most extroverted person can feel nervous when they are meeting people for the first time. Remember, as my Grandma used to say - most people in a room are worried about what everyone is thinking about them – they are not thinking about you.
What I find helps a lot with my nervousness is to remember that it is about the person you are connecting with, not you. Approach networking events and new connections with the thought that you are there to find out more about the people you are meeting, and what they need. You are not there to talk about yourself.
Ask questions
One of the things that helps with getting the conversation going, is asking questions. Sales is a two-way conversation. Your goal early in the sales process is to get the other person talking so that you can understand more about their challenges and what they need.
I find some simple questions at networking events help to get things started. Open questions that require more than a one-word answer are good for this.
Here are a couple of examples to get you started:
“How is this time of year for you?”
“How are you finding the current economic climate affecting things for your business?”
Notice that it can help to think of a question that may be currently topical, or specific to that industry. Then you can keep the conversation going by asking follow up questions. So for example, if they say something like:
“This cost of living crisis is really affecting sales” – you could ask;
“How are you dealing with that? Are you having to do more marketing?” Again – the goal here is to get them talking – and you can lead the conversation in a direction that is interesting for you – and hopefully, the person you are speaking with.
The most important thing to remember when you are out there selling is that it doesn’t actually matter if you are introverted, extroverted or somewhere in between. What matters is understanding your customers’ challenges and being able to help your customers solve them.
Join us to learn how
You Don’t have to be an Extrovert to Sell
Free Webinar 19th April
