While society views most people who don’t cringe at the thought at public speaking are deemed extroverts and assumes the college student who shudders at the thought of being asked to answer a question that they have full knowledge of is decisively introverted, its actually a little more complicated than that. Ambiverts are people who have the qualities of both personality types, depending on the situation, which serves them well in sales. Here are 3 examples of that:
- They’re more emotionally stable. Extroverts are not easily influenced by outside factors, while introverts are hypersensitive. Ambiverts offer a good balance between the two and are referred to as the stability “normal”.
- Ambiverts are intuitive. This is a quality that serves them well in life and in business. Someone who is very extroverted may be too excitable and talkative to build a relationship with a customer and close a sale. Occasionally, with extroverted salespeople, conversations can end up becoming one-sided, leaving the customer frustrated. An introverted salesman might be too timid to create the situation to close the sale.
- They are confident without coming across as cocky. For very extroverted salespeople, cockiness can occasionally be a pitfall. Clients do not want to feel like they are being sold to and taken advantage of by an arrogant salesman who is trying to pull a fast one. Instead, they would rather feel informed and work with a salesperson who truly listens. The ambiverts ability to be in tune to what the customer has to say
BoweryJE22
One thing that stuck in particular was the contrast between introverts and extroverts. I liked how you mentioned that extroverts sometimes end up rambling too much. As an extrovert myself, I find it easy to get caught up on something. That when I start a conversation, I go extremely into depth about it. From a sales perspective, this can end up being more detrimental than beneficial. Being a listener, as most introverts are, can end up being a better alternative than talking excessively. On the contrary, as an introvert sometimes it’s more harmful not to talk much at all. That not giving the customer enough information can be hurtful when trying to close a deal. I enjoyed how you brought both perspectives into play and would totally agree that most ambiverts end up being more successful in the long run.
It’s so important for both extroverts and introverts to know the characteristics and skills of doing sales somewhere in the middle or the “ambivert way”. These are all valid points that weaken an extrovert but by knowing what these are an extrovert can interact in a sales situation conscious of these mistakes.
I think your additional insights into the benefits of being ambiverted are helpful. Coming from a large family, I can honestly say there is a pretty healthy mix of ambiverts, extroverts, and introverts. Although I think the majority would be considered ambiverts. I wonder how often people fluctuate between these three personality types. It seems to me that it’s certainly possible for some people to move in and out different types depending on career, personal, or spiritual. I think that would be interesting to research.