When you think of a salesperson, what do you think of? Folks who are pushy, loud, smooth-talking, chatty, and salesy, right? Well, you would be right, because many of these traits are common in extroverted people, which is why most sales professionals are extroverts. This makes sense because the main goal of the sales position is to convince others to buy a company’s product or service and it is more difficult to do that if you are on the quieter side and not very aggressive. But what if there was another personality that was even stronger at sales than your everyday extrovert?
As we all know, an extrovert is someone who gets energy from being around people, and being an introvert means you get energy from spending time alone or in smaller groups. However, a new personality type called the ‘ambivert’ is quickly gaining ground. An ambivert is someone whose personality has a nice balance of both extrovert and introvert qualities. Ambiverts tend to be empathetic, good negotiators, mild-mannered, part of the crowd, but also not wallflowers, and engage in both talking and listening equally. But would these qualities really help in a sales position? Of course they would!
It might be easy to have a conversation with an extroverted salesperson and you would need to know a lot about a product before you consider buying it. However, salespeople also need to listen and ask a lot of questions. Extroverts can do this very well, but ambiverts have a more balanced approach to this kind of interaction with others. According to an article by Vonage, ambiverts are the most successful in sales. A researcher named Adam Grant from the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study of 300 people in sales over 3 months and found that ambiverts made 24% more sales revenue than introverts and 32% more than extroverts. The key to these numbers is that ambiverts are able to switch between approaches depending on who their customer is. They can be outgoing and excited for extroverted customers and more laid back and no-pressure for introverted customers.
Anyone can be good at sales if they study the techniques and know how to communicate with others, but ambiverts are taking the sales world by storm with their well-balanced attitudes and ability to talk and listen at the same time. Just remember, talking will get you a little way, listening will get you farther, and doing both will send you to your dream sale.
duzx20 
Mason 
Ethan David
Your article made a good point. According to the Myers Briggs personality test (and everyone who knows me), I am 97% extroverted. I have always seen this as a strength and it has helped me countless times in my day-to-day sales job at American Eagle Outfitters. I used to believe people were either-or. You couldn’t be both an extrovert and an introvert. My friend this year fully attests to being an ambivert and is one of the reasons this past point of view of mine has changed. When I was reading Pinks’ book and it said ambiverts were some of the best salespeople I immediately thought of my friend. Even though I personally am 97% extravert I am also 95% feeling. I feel, no pun intended, that this helps me empathize with the customer and pushes me to be a more balanced and attentive listener. Your article was very informative and I am grateful for the well-worded point you made. Good Job.
I think this is a very interesting and well written article! I think I naturally have the inclination to think of the traditional salesman as extroverts, like the examples of the movies that we watched in class! I think that sales would benefit from a person who is a great communicator as well as a great listener and someone who is great at being empathetic and understanding. Nice article.