Are you and extrovert or introvert? A common misconception is extroverts are the best at sales. Well as we learned in class and in our readings it is actually a mix of introverts and extroverts that make the best sales person. This study was done in the Wharton school is business by Adam M.Grant,
“Ambiverts achieve greater sales productivity than extraverts or introverts do,” he wrote. “Because they naturally engage in a flexible pattern of talking and listening, ambiverts are likely to express sufficient assertiveness and enthusiasm to persuade and close a sale but are more inclined to listen to customers’ interests and less vulnerable to appearing too excited or overconfident.”
So why are Ambiverts more successful than the outgoing extroverts?
1. They are more flexible: Ambiverts are function in situations that introverts and extroverts thrive in.
2. The are more emotionally stable: Ambiverts are not as easily effected by outside factors The have a better handle on their emotions than either group.
3. They are more intuitive: They know when to speak and when to listen in different situations.
4. They are more influential: In Grant’s experiment those who were in the middle had a higher salary, and made more in their sales then those on either end of the spectrum.
I really enjoyed digging more into this topic and think it’s important to understand that Ambiverts are simply more relateable and can better adapt to different sales situations.
BoweryJE22
I can definitely see this being true in the world of car sales. We have a ton of your run-of-the-mill pushy, extroverted salesmen and they tend to do fairly well, although they also tend to scare a lot of people off. We also have a few of the quite sort of guys who are great at getting information and figuring out how to best fit the customer’s needs, but their sales pitch is terrible. However, we have a couple of guys. These guys are the stars of our dealership, clearing anywhere from 25-35 cars a month, with each of them raking in a 6 figure salary! Moral of the story: ambiverts sell.
This was an interesting affirmation to much of what I’ve experienced in my interactions with salespeople. I enjoy buying most from people who don’t seem like they’re selling, which is often the ambivert. They know how to talk, but mostly, they know how to listen.
To be a full introvert or full extrovert is rare – either personality would be draining to those around them. Ambiverts are able to read situations a bit better than either extremes, enabling them to communicate more effectively.