Care to vote again?

Here’s an easy question, if I may say so and ask.

An extrovert is an outgoing and gregarious person. On the other hand, introvert is a shy and inner-directed person. Of the two, who would make a better salesman?

If you vote for extrovert, allow me to apply indelible ink. Not on your finger but on your answer. Black it out baby, you are wrong!

Says who, you ask.

Says dozens of researches. There has been no causal relationship between extroversion and heightened levels of sales performance. ‘Steve Martin’ in a Harvard Business Review article titled ‘Seven personality traits of top salespeople’ says dominance is the ability to gain willing obedience of customers such that the salesperson’s recommendations and advice are followed. His study indicates overly friendly salespeople are too close to their customers and have difficulty establishing dominance.

Unconvinced?

In another study, Wharton’s Adam M. Grant studied hundreds of salespeople over a 3-month period. He found introverted salespeople made an average sale of $120.10 per hour while extroverts made $125.19 per hour. Seems extroverts are winning?

Not really. The more salespeople scored on extroversion, the lower their performance fell. He published his findings in an article, ‘Rethinking the Extroverted Sales Ideal’ in ‘Psychological Science’.

The highly extroverted wants to be the cynosure of all eyes and tend to move quickly from one conversation to another. They are excited by their own perspectives that they suppress or neglect others. As a result, extroverted salespeople may spend too much time delivering assertive, enthusiastic pitches and too little time asking questions and listening to customers’ answers.

So, should salespeople be extrovert or introvert?

Introvert, you say now.

Black that one out too buddy, you are wrong again!

In Grant’s study, the winner was actually the ambivert. Ambiverts are a bit of both. They will make excellent conversationalists as much as they will be great listeners. Ambiverts, by their nature, engage in a flexible pattern of talking and listening, and 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.

Grant’s research serves the proverbial proof of the pudding. Ambiverts made $208.34 per hour!