It makes sense that introverted sales people that know their own assets and liabilities (ability to listen, go easy on the sales spin, etc…) would have a higher conversion rate. But even in looking back over the years, I can count on one hand the number of people that fall into that category.

You are so right. Those folks who know the inner workings of the company definitely can see problems (potential opportunities). Their personality carries that sense of responsibility. Often times I see that this type of person prospers in a “systems” oriented role. It is more of a value to them that the “system” is working right. They are more concerned about facts and truth not as much with people. When this type of a person is in a sales role, their believability is enormous because they are more concerned about sharing the truth about a product… including the good, bad, and the ugly.

Interesting to note though, some of the large corporations that I dealt with for awhile…. I think they got hip to this. For many years I was the IT Asset Manager at a big corporation. Basically, I bought a lot of hardware and software from IBM, Dell, HP, Oracle, Microsoft, Lotus, etc. And in every case, they would send the extroverted “salesperson”. And accompanying that person would be the “technical expert”, the more introverted, systems savvy, black & white tell the truth about the product person. I think this was a wise strategy. When selling technology, you’re generally selling to more “systems oriented” people who are less relational warm and fuzzy kind of folks.

Customer: Would we be able to do this with the product?

Salesperson: We are working on that. We’ve had several inquiries from clients like yourselves. We’re hoping it will be available in our next release. But let me get with the project manager to see where we’re at and I’ll get back to you on that. Let me make sure I have your email address correct. Is it person@email.com?

Technical Person: No.

Co-operation is the key though… introvert, extrovert, outside sales, internal systems, whatever…. the most important thing I’ve learned in life is that I must co-operate with the Lord and everyone. I cannot do it alone. We cannot do it alone.

Over the years I have observed that the most successful organizations, either businesses or not-for-profits, place significant value on observant, internally motivated employees at all levels. These individuals know the goals and inner workings of the company so intimately that they can spot opportunity or brewing problems and steer the situation to the appropriate leader with an equally important alert to him or her.

If appropriate, I had a thought about Paul’s comments would add to the discussion. From what I’ve read, statistically, the highest producing sales people tend to introverts. I know. This sounds crazy. Turns out introverts more readily listen to their clients, and thus can be seen as problem-solvers.

Listeners ask questions. And then they ask more questions. Listening shows concern for the other person. (Where have we heard the value of that before?) Genuine interest builds relationships. Admittedly, being an extrovert nyself, I didn’t begin to practice this approach until after I spent a number of months as a reporter. It was amazing what people told me after I, er, hushed up. I’m not sure why this took so long to learn. My husband’s been trying to tell me this for years.
“Hey, Honey?” “Honey?”
Now where did he say he was going?

“Most companies with multiple departments have difficulty communicating and/or cooperating with each other. ”

This is true in smaller companies, although not as much. But in big corporations, this is a major problem. The Word says, “Don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing” when it comes to our giving. But certainly we cannot take this scripture out of context when co-operation is the order of the day.

I once was part of a team at a large corporation (no pun intended… “co-operation”) that was involved in doing a “fish-bone” analysis….. the end result? We determined our INTERNAL MARKETING was weak. Now granted, we were a bunch of IT folks in an IT department. The IT personality is far different than the Sales personality.

A Salesman personality is relational in nature, many times quite extroverted. They go out of their way to talk and connect with folks. The IT personality is typically analytical in nature, often times more introverted. They hide out in the IT “dungeon” or keep pretty quiet in their cube.

True Sales folks come by internal selling naturally because it’s just who they are. IT folks and other Operations/Production type roles need to work harder at their “selling”. It definitely takes an on purpose plan for a non sales type personality to do internal marketing/selling.

Introverted type people can seem cold at times when really they are just minding their own business. Idle chit-chat…. warm and fuzzy conversations…. these people do not really care about.

The extroverted sales person loves idle chit-chat. They love relating. They love talking to strangers. They love using lots of words when they speak. And as was mentioned in the original post…. they know “and understand this and go out of their way to build relationships”.

Non-sales people don’t be discouraged. Just know that you need to put forth a reasonable uncomfortable effort to build relationships you may need in the future. You do not come by this naturally, like the salesman. IT will take some work on your part to get out of your comfort zone.

I can say from experience…. a little genuine idle chit-chat and relating to people in your organization will go a long long way.

The Body of Christ cannot succeed with people being islands unto themselves. It is a corporate body and while it may be uncomfortable we must relate with one another.

Thank God He made us all unique with unique personalities. But there are some character traits that we can borrow and learn from each other to make a great corporation, co-operation, or corporate body.

Great post.

In some ways I think these folks are more important (consider others more important than yourselves). In sales we can walk a customer in the door, but the support staff make sure that what our customers are drinking is pure and undiluted. This also portends that the seemingly “lower level” jobs (comparison - those parts of the body that are seemingly insignificant, we give special significance) are really more important. These are the great folks (whoever wants to become greatest among you should be the least and the servant of all). These folks are heros to me.

In the industry I work in, the 4th quarter is push time, with companies buying equipment in order to reduce year-end taxes, take advantage of special offerings, etc. I finance this equipment, and our support staff is at their busiest, despite holidays coming and that extra stress that can bring. These folks do an awesome job, largely do not complain, and do it with excellence.

I once worked at a company where the “star” salesperson did an amazing amount of volume but on the backs of the support staff. Yet, partly because he was from the Northeast (as I am, no excuse) and partly because of personality, as well as other issues, he was extremely hard on the very staff that got him the business. Needless to say it made for tense relationships at time.

This is a major key - if you can’t sell in your own house, how can you sell to the customer?

Blessings,
Dennis