Top 3 Powerful Sales Tips For Introverted Salespeople

Rob  00:08

All right, welcome back everybody to The Slow Pitch and today we have Lane and I both on the episode so congratulations Lane. Are you an introvert? Are you an extrovert?

Lane  00:17

Why do you ask?

Rob  00:18

Well, I’m curious, are you introverted? Or you extroverted? Do you know?

Lane  00:22

So I’ve always considered myself an introvert. I have just literally weeks before COVID I actually took a test as to whether I’m whether I’m introverted or extroverted, I was the most introverted extrovert you could be. So I was one notch into the extrovert,

Rob  00:38

Alright, I tend to be about the same amount on the introverted side and one notch off from the extrovert side. So given that, who’s the better salesperson or who could be a better salesperson, an introverted person or an extroverted person? Let’s find out today.

V/O  00:53

You’re listening to The Slow Pitch Podcast, a podcast about selling less and closing more.

Rob  01:01

Alright, so you said you’re kind of extroverted, but more on the level of next to the middle there for on the introverted side of extraversion, right?

Lane  01:10

Yes, I had to decipher what you just said. But yeah, okay.

Rob  01:13

Let’s try that again. Let’s see, you’re an extrovert, but you’re more introverted on their scale.

Lane  01:19

Yes, I am as introverted of an extrovert as you can get, apparently.

Rob  01:23

All right. All right. So and I am as extroverted of an introvert that you can be. Does that make sense?

Lane  01:30

That explains, explains a lot,

Rob  01:32

That explains nothing, because that means we’re pretty close. I mean, we got a question. Right. So what did the question basically ask?

Lane  01:39

Ryan emailed us and essentially asked about how he can better approach sales meetings being an introvert. He says he feels uncomfortable going to sales meetings being an introvert and he’s afraid that’s hurting him.

Rob  01:51

Okay, well, that’s interesting. So if you’re an introvert, like Ryan, and you feel uncomfortable going to sales meetings, there’s a couple different kinds of sales meetings. One is those networking meetings where you’re out in a group, you know, and you got to go out and find more business. That’s got to be where he’s probably most uncomfortable, right?

Lane  02:08

Yeah, you’re standing up. Hi, my name is Ryan.

Rob  02:11

Yeah. And that’s, that’s never, That’s never fun for any what really No, not really much fun for anybody. Although I will say some of the extroverts just love doing it, they like to show off. But besides that, if you’re in a one on one meeting, being an introvert shouldn’t matter too much. Because typically, introverts when they’re one on one, they’re more comfortable, because it’s a little less dangerous, let’s call it probably not much danger there. But what they feel is like this uncomfortable feeling of I gotta, I got to perform, I gotta say, more than I’m used to. Right. So, so I could see some of that. But I think that most of his discomfort is probably coming from when he’s in a big group and trying to network. That being said, I feel like there’s three or four different things or three different areas that he could probably just think about before he goes into that scenario. Let’s first start out with what does it mean to be introverted? So an introverted person is really someone that’s usually shy, they’re like, really concerned about their own thoughts and feelings rather than external things, right. So they, they get their energy from inside. And what that means is, when things are going on throughout the day, if I feel overwhelmed, I just want to go to my room, my office, my whatever, get away from everybody, be by myself, I don’t want to see anybody, I don’t want to talk to anybody. I want to turn my phone off, turn everything off and just sit quietly. That’s what an introvert would do an extrovert when they’re kind of overwhelmed with what they’re working on or doing or in their in their whole scenario. They just want to talk it out. They want to go deal with other people. They want to work through their problem with other individuals in the room. That’s really the difference between an introvert and an extrovert right I mean, you probably would I mean which one of those two more describes you Lane? Just kind of curious.

Lane  03:56

Um. I guess is that is where the the introverted Yes, you know, angle comes in, because I I need to recharge my batteries. i I want to go crawl into bed. Just Yeah. Watch some tiktoks and ignore the world.

Lane  04:08

So that’s true.

Lane  04:08

Yeah, and I think that’s what’s so everybody can be the other thing to know is like, because you’re an introvert or because you’re an extrovert. It doesn’t mean you can’t be the other one at any given time. Right? So yep. So while I’m introverted, I can’t tell you what, most people probably when they were out networking, if I’m out networking, they would never guess that I’m an introvert, they would never guess because I know that I have to behave in a certain way. And I make it about trying to connect other people than it is about me selling myself so I become more comfortable doing that. And in that process, somebody always goes, well, what is it that you do? And so that’s kind of the whole that’s how I get away with it. Right? But what I think I wanted to go through in this episode when I read Ryan’s note was how does it that salespeople could be introverted or extroverted? Which one does a better job and also like, what do you need to keep in mind? So if you’re an introvert, there’s a couple things that I want you to remember. One is, if you’re going to be an introvert, you’re going to be in a sales sales meeting and you’re uncomfortable. The key for you is to make everything in that conversation about the other person. Well, to me, if that’s the case, how is it any different than what your sales call should be?

Rob  05:09

Yeah. So some people, when they go to a sales meeting, their whole goal is to tell other people about what they do.

Lane  05:26

Yeah. And that is where an extrovert would come in. So to me, I feel like there’s a little bit of an advantage there, if you’re an introvert, you make all the other conversations about the other people in the room, the other potential buyer, you’re going to talk less, you’re going to learn a lot more. And they’re going to think you’re the best person in the room because they get to talk about themselves. And that kind of helps guide the conversation and helps them go through what they what they need. And you get into their understanding of their needs and their pains. Right. So in that process, you can really dive into, well, we know wow, this sounds like a big deal. But maybe it’s not. Is it a big deal? Or, you know, are we is this just something that happens every once in a while? Oh, my goodness, it happens, like every week, and we got to stop this thing. Well, how when it happens, what happens? Like what does that? What does that equate to? Like? I mean, so once you have some downtime, that can’t be that big of a deal, right? And you just kind of work on the through all of those questions. As an introvert, it’s very easy to just ask questions, because it’s not about you anyway. But the more you do that, the less uncomfortable you’ll feel. Does that make sense?

Lane  06:29

It does. What if one of you have trouble thinking of those questions to ask?

Rob  06:33

So that is a good question. You should, before your meeting know enough about that individual and whatever their issue is. So usually what happens is you’ll get a call or an email or some sort of inquiry, and a lot of times you’re getting an inquiry, and they want to talk to you and say, Hey, I’ve got an issue here and I want to deal with it. That’s when you’re going to start to do a little research before you get into the room with them. And you’re going to know, okay, in this industry, this is the common problems. These are the common issues. This is usually where things go wrong. So now when you get into that meeting, you know already you’re armed a little bit with, I know what those issues are? How do I ask those questions? So you might jot some questions down ahead of time to say these are the questions that I should ask. That being said, when it comes to pain questions, they’re pretty much the same. You just tailored around whoever you’re speaking to, and what their issue is. So if you’re talking to somebody that needs, let’s say, a web site, you’re going to ask them questions about why they need a website, what would be the value of why would you do that? Why, what’s wrong with your website now? Is there something that is causing you problems with what kind of well what if you did have that problem? What What? What happens then what do people just leave? That’s one way to ask those questions. But but on the other hand, if let’s say you’re you’re a roofer, right, and they need a new roof, they’ve called you to handle your new roof. Your questions then become well, why do you need a new roof? Well, it’s just time Well, what do you mean, it’s time? Well, it’s like 30 years old? Well, but you don’t have any problems with the roof, do you? Well, no, but it’s gonna it’s gonna be a problem at some point when it starts leaking. So you’re not having any leaks right now? No. So now you know, it’s not pressing. But see, what you do is you kind of push back. And that’s what the introverts are good at doing. Because if you’re just inquisitive, you have a armed, you’re armed with questions that you can ask, you know, where to maneuver in the sense of asking those questions. So that to me is the first thing is make your conversations all about the other person. The second piece of this is use your power of silence as an introvert to really take control of the conversation. And what do you think I mean, by that,

Lane  08:42

Yeah, you, you get them to talk more?

Rob  08:45

Yeah, yeah. So there are so many times that I’ve been in a meeting that somebody starts asking questions, and then I have to talk and so I have to stop myself from talking all the time. And, you know, they asked me, well, you know, you know, what, do you tell me why you should buy your roof, right? Okay, why should I buy your service? Why should I whatever and in your natural inclination, as an especially as an extrovert, is to be well, we have the best roofs in the world, and we can you know, we’re the best at this or whatever. Nobody cares. Everybody says that, right? How do I distinguish whether or not you’re a good one or not? What you end up doing is when somebody asks you a question, you can say back to them. I’m not, I’m not sure I am the best in the Best Roofer or the best will have the best roof. I mean, what that kind of depends what do you what are you looking for? Like, are you looking for a metal roof? Are you looking for, like, what are you looking for? And all of a sudden, that starts to start them talking. But once you stop talking, they have to talk. And there’s also been scenarios where I ask a question, they answer it with like five words. And then they look back at me, like, continue. And then I just sit there and look at them like, Uh huh. And anything continue? Yeah, I continue. And then they’re like, oh, I can still talk. Okay, so then they continue on and they start to get this rhythm, if you will, when they start talking, when I ask a question, if they cut it short, and I don’t have enough information, I’m going to ask was there anything else? Or tell me more about that, or you know that start asking a couple of open ended questions so that they can start telling me more information. So use the power of your silence that you’re comfortable with, as an introvert, you’re, you’re comfortable with silence. I know another introvert that I’ve been in a car with, had to drive for, like 20 minutes. And at one point, he and I just there was no radio, we just drove, I was driving, I was trying to keep the conversation, like just friendly, nice. We knew each other we weren’t, you know, we’re not best friends or anything like it was just, we had to go somewhere together. And we were driving. And I’m like, I can’t hear this conversation anymore. He was not being open, he was very introverted, fine. And so we were both very comfortable just sitting there in silence for five minutes straight. And I was like, Wow, I can’t believe this guy just sat here for five years, that became a goal for me to find out how long we could sit there quietly without talking to each other. That became a goal.

Lane  10:58

That’s why you never talked to me. Yeah, that’s right. Finally, test.

Rob  11:02

It’s just it’s always a test, always a test. It’s kind of a fun little game. So the last thing I would say, which kind of goes with the first two is listen more, that’s the third item I want you to remember is, naturally, if you listen more, you’re going to have more questions, you’re going to have more information, they’ll have to explain themselves. You can ask them, How did they come to a conclusion, and then you listen, how they came to that conclusion, what made their decision, and you start to see and understand how they think. And that’s where you can start to have some benefits to listening more, you start to learn how they think. And also, also all three of these tie into which other component that we’ve talked about before?

Lane  11:40

Personality type.

Rob  11:41

Yeah, the DiSC. Yeah. So when you start talking like this, if you listen, you’re going through this process, you’ll find out very quickly, who’s the high D? Because they’re like, Okay, can we just get on with this? Like, they don’t want to, they don’t want that silence. And they’re very uncomfortable with that. They want to talk, but they want to get it done. They want to move fast. Okay, fine. But the I’s, I’s are your favorite. They’re my favorite. They talk about sushi. They’ll talk about that last night that they had they talked about last week, they talked about what happened at church the other weekend, they talked about everything, but what you want to talk about, but that’s what’s great. If you’re billing by the hour, yes, it’s totally, totally fine. So that’s what you know what’s coming, but But what you’re doing is you really have to kind of you know that when you start hearing that they’re an “I”. So you need to start steering that conversation and saying, you know, I know I came here to learn more about what you need. We’re already like 10, or 10 or 15 minutes in, I know, we booked about an hour. Before we get too far along. I want to hear more about what we were just talking about. Would it be okay, if we kind of talked a little bit about some of what’s going on now. And then when we have time at the end? We can talk more about this? And they’re like, Yeah, let’s do it. That’s what they want, right? They want to talk more, but they also know that the hit okay, they probably heard it before, they need to get back to what’s supposed to be talked about, right? So you’ll learn a lot about their DiSC as well. And once you know how to do that and understand DiSC, the introverts I believe, not because I’m an introvert, but I believe introverts have… I know, Lane, you’re laughing… Yeah, I think we have an advantage over somebody like you, because you’re probably in the middle. So but the people that are on the end of the extrovert, I don’t know. I feel like you know, you can convince people pretty quickly as an extrovert, you can talk over them, you can kind of push on…

Lane  13:24

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Rob  13:24

But how many of those people when they get done feel like, I don’t know, if I made the right decision, versus an introvert who really makes the person they’re speaking with? Answer all the questions come to the conclusion. And now they say, Yeah, I think we need to buy that. And then off we go. And you start working through that process next. So that’s I think, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert person, any thoughts on your end? Who do you think which of the DiSC profiles do you think have more of an introverted personality style of the, the DiSC?

Lane  14:04

Well, considering we’re both C’s, I would say the C’s, and probably the S’s.

Rob  14:10

You know, I… Here’s the thing, the real answer is I don’t know. But if I was to guess, based on what I can gather from the different types, I would tend to think that the C would be more introverted. Typically not always. But typically ann the “I” would typically be more of an introvert extrovert than an introvert. The Ds and the Ss. Almost could go either way. I’ve seen both. I’ve seen a high D, sit quietly look at you straight in the face. Wait for you to finish talking and then go. Alright, what’s next? And you’re like, oh, okay, okay. Oh, okay. Got it. But I thought they were more of a C No, they’re a D and they’re, they’re running through. They don’t need as much time right. So, but you also have to remember that a lot of people have dual. So you might have one that has a D and a C, so the C takes over in certain parts or C and then the D, right, so that that could also happen. Do you think? Do you think we answered Ryan’s question?

Lane  15:09

I hope so. And when we first started talking about Ryan’s question, I know we kind of merged into talking about personality types. But I started to wonder if maybe his issue was less of introvert versus extrovert, rather than not understanding his personality type.

Rob  15:25

Also possible. If he doesn’t understand his personality type, he should go get a personality profiles done by somebody who does that, you can always go to Crystal Knows, right? Google Crystal Knows, you’ll find that we have a link on their page. And you can go learn a little bit about who you are as a personality, they also do other ones. So there is some tie into that. And I think if you learn your own DISC profile, and then know how to read other profiles, you’re you’re much better position in the sales meeting than anybody else that doesn’t have that kind of knowledge or experience. And I will say this, when I first got into sales, I…So,  there’s two types of people out there, right? There’s, there’s the type of people that are very aware of other people’s feelings. And then there’s people that have no clue about other people’s feelings. Unfortunately, I fall into the side that’s more like the doesn’t have a clue but other people’s feelings, which is not good, in the sense. So when I went by DISC profile, what I ended up finding out was I wasn’t I just did my thing. And I didn’t adjust enough of my personality to fit into a conversation that I should. So I’ve learned how to do that. So anybody thinks they can’t? You can. You have to pay attention. You have to work at it.

Lane  16:43

Yeah, we’re incredibly a lot like.

Rob  16:47

Well, you know, so with that, I think if we answered all the all of Ryan’s questions, I think, Ryan, you’re at an advantage, quite honestly. And you should own it. And instead of being nervous, I think you have to own it. And you have to start to learn the DISC profile, learn your own, learn the other people but learn how to make the conversation more about the other person, use silence to your advantage, and just listen a lot more and you will actually close more sales without even trying that pert will help you don’t get too technical, though, if that’s the that’s some of the other issues that could come up. If you’re a high C. That could be the case. So alright, I hope that helps everybody. And until next time, remember, slow down and close more. See you Lane!

Lane  17:26

Bye.

V/O  17:28

Thank you for listening to The Slow Pitch. Do you have a question about sales? Call or text your question at (608) 708-SLOW. That’s 608-708-7569. Or you can email them to Questions@TheSlowPitch.com Slow Down and Close More.

Rob  18:20

Thanks as always, for listening today. If you’d like this podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. We really appreciate it. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at The Slow Pitch. We were mixed today as always by Johnny Polakis. And we were produced by High Gravity Studios. Music credits and other notes are in the show notes section on TheSlowPitch.com And we’ll be back with another episode soon.