Transcript: Do You Have to be an Extrovert to Sell?

Hey, creative. Do you have to be an extrovert to be good at sales? Do you have to be extroverted to do sales? I’ve heard that a lot. You might have said it, you might believe it. Um, but I have amazing news for you if you are like most creatives out there, and you are a very introverted, sort of shy person who thinks about sales and gets sweaty palms and shortness of breath and all that stuff, and, and sales makes you feel slimy and gross and all that, I have great news for you. And that news is that you do not have to be extroverted to sell. As a matter of fact, extroverts don’t even make the best salespeople. Let me introduce you to a book. I’ve talked about this one before, uh, for different purposes, but this is such a good book. It’s called To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink, p i n k, to Sell as Human.

And what, what Daniel Pink says there is that every human being is in sales. And he explains why that is and uh, you can go read the book and and find out. But what the, the key, uh, truth that he found out and he talks about in that book that is super important for you if you are one of these introverted, very shy creatives, is that there was, there were these big studies done of who, who out there who, professional salespeople, who does the best introverts or extroverts. And what they found was that it was neither one of those two personality types. It was a third personality type right in the middle called an ambivert, A M B I, ambivert, like ambidextrous. It’s a little bit of both. It’s like Goldilocks found that, that that extroverts the people who are always out there, the gladhands, the people who are always in the public meetings, who actually weren’t that good at sales because they don’t listen and they talk too much <laugh>.

And if you’ve ever done sales successfully, you know that listening and shutting your mouth is crucial to sales. They also found though that the introverts, the very introverted, the very shy, the very reserved were also not that great at sales for the opposite reason, right? They <laugh>, they only listen, they only observe, they don’t talk enough, they don’t engage with people. And you have to do a little bit of both to be a good salesperson. Now, I will, I will tell you this, if I have one skill that I’m proud of, that I think I’m really above average, good at it is sales. I’m just, I’m just good at it. I’ve done it for a very long time. I’ve had lots and lots of practice and I have seen this play out in my own life exactly the way that Daniel Pink says in his book.

Uh, if you know me or people who know me in, in my, uh, in my business life, I get this a lot. People think I am an extrovert. Oh, Kevin, you do sales and you get these projects cuz you’re just, you’re so extroverted, <laugh>. And I’m here to tell you, and I have of, I’ve done the tests. I am a very introverted human being. You may not know this about me. If you even have my friends out there who know, who know me, <laugh>, I’m a very introverted person by nature. I can sit alone for days at a time and just sit in this office and work and read. And I, I, I don’t crave big crowds like extroverts do I? Okay. That said, I have learned how to engage with people. So what the ambivert does is takes the best of the extroverts, the best of the introverts, puts them together, and you are instantly better at sales example.

Um, introverts are very good at observing people, getting in tune with people and listening to what they say. That’s crucial, right? So you’re listening to people hearing about their problems, what motivates them, what do they really need to hear? What do they really want to hear? How can your business and your art fit into what they need? That’s great, but you can’t stop there. So you pull a little bit from the extroverts and go, Hey, let me ask you a follow up question about what you just said, right? Active listening, listen and then follow up. Ask them questions, engage them just a little bit like the extroverts do. But then unlike the extroverts, actually listen to the answer. <laugh>, you get the answer. Now you’re getting somewhere. Because what sales is really about is connecting with human beings, finding out what they need and seeing if you have something that can help them.

It’s really that simple. Okay? So don’t be as scared of sales. It’s scary, don’t get me wrong. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s nerve wracking. You can get better. But I want to dispel this myth that you have to be some kind of extrovert. And because you are an a, a very shy artistic type, you can’t be good at sales. It is simply not true. Read this book to sell as human and I think it’s gonna make you feel a lot better. And more importantly, I think it’s gonna help you sell more. You can do it. I love you.