Mastering Sales as an Introvert | Ep 25

0:00 Welcome to the Impact Sales Podcast. I'm your host Joe Beck, founder of The Sales Activist, and today's episode we have a very popular topic that we're going to be talking about today. I get this question a lot, and today we're going to be talking all about creating massive sales results when you're an introvert. That's right, when you're an introvert. We get this a lot at the Sales Activist, people asking us about selling when you're an introvert, where you're not that outspoken or that comfortable talking with people. Well, today we're going to talk all about that topic and how you can generate massive sales results even if you're an introvert. So don't go anywhere, we'll be right back.

1:01 Welcome back to the Impact Sales Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Beck, founder of The Sales Activist, and today we're going to be talking all about creating massive sales results even when you're an introvert. That's right, even when you're an introvert. See, I've been in sales my entire career thirty five plus years, done it all and seen it all. And one of the questions that I get very very often from people both in corporate environments, in the solopreneur space, just people reaching out and asking this question is, you know, how can I be successful in sales when I'm a natural introvert. I'm somebody who's not comfortable reaching out. I'm somebody who's not comfortable being out in front of people.

1:49 And today we're going to talk all about how you can break through that limiting belief, how you can put yourself in a place where you could be successful in selling even if you are in fact an introvert. So for many people, they get hung up on a lot of different things that might hold them back from sales success. Some of these things are legitimate challenges or obstacles that they need to work through, and one of them can be when somebody is naturally introverted. They're not necessarily comfortable reaching out to people, they aren't necessarily comfortable initiating conversations or engagement with other individuals. They're naturally introverted. This happens for a lot of people because you know, not everybody is born with a comfortable personality towards outreach or towards getting uncomfortable and putting themselves in a position where they're engaging new people. So for those of you that are natural introverts or people that struggle with this in their business, today's going to be a very very important episode. I like to start an episode like this with really breaking down a stereotype or a misunderstanding in regards to sales.

3:11 Many times people think that individuals are natural born salespeople, like they just were born with the natural ability of selling professionally, and there couldn't be anything further from the truth. You know, sales is not unlike any other skilled profession. It can be learned, taught, you can coach people on it, it can be developed and honed over time for yourself. And a lot of people struggle with that because they have this it's almost a coping mechanism and excuse where they say, well, I'm not a natural born salesperson. I'm not comfortable doing those things. And you know, everybody who's ever been successful in selling has put themselves in a place where they've learned how to get better at their craft.

4:02 They've developed those skills. And what that tells us is no matter who you are, even if you're an introvert, you can be successful in selling. So that's the first thing you need to know and understand. Okay, nobody is born a natural salesperson. People learn, they gather information, and they improve their skill set and as a result of that they are good in selling. So if you're an introvert, if you're somebody who is uncomfortable or naturally additionally nervous about reaching out to people, engaging people, communicating with people, I'm telling you right now you can work through that. Now.

4:43 In addition to recognizing and acknowledging that there is no such thing as a born salesperson, the other thing that you need to acknowledge. And this is just the case for everybody you know. If somebody you know is an introvert or struggle with outreach, sometimes how they perceive themselves in the process can make all the difference in their results. And here's what I mean. Many times people think when they're selling that the focus is on them, that the focus is on what they're doing, what they're saying, their salesmanship, you know, how they present themselves, and it does play a role, I'm not gonna deny that, but it plays a much smaller role than the other person. As a part of that interaction, the prospect, the client, the person that you're speaking to or presenting to. So for introverts, for people that struggle with putting themselves out there, and this includes sales, you need to first recognize that the number one thing that you need to do, and this is going to come as something that relax you, is you put that emphasis on the other person. You make it all about them. Now, that will not only take the pressure off of you in the work that you do,

6:14 but it actually puts you very much aligned with where you should be focusing as it relates to your sales process. See a lot of people think that sales is all about what you say and what you do and how you present and your confidence and your sales ability, and I'm going to tell you it's the exact opposite. I've seen people that have been wildly successful in selling, and when you first look at them and you first hear them, you would be shocked. You just would be amazed that they're capable of performing at the level that they are. And the reason is they have aligned themselves with the most important thing. They understand that it's not about them. It's not about what they do, what they offer, how it works. Those things matter, but they matter to such a small degree that it doesn't impact their success. What does impact their success? And listen up, all you introverts, what does impact their success is being able to put the focus solely on their prospect, their client, the people that they're interacting with. Now, how does that happen? What does that look like? Well, if you are an introvert, you probably have already learned this little tidbit right, this life skill. You want to try to get the person that you're interacting with or talking to talking more than you're talking. And if you're a natural introvert, or if

7:45 you're uncomfortable engaging people, once you do break the ice and you do get that initial conversation started, the easiest thing for you to do in the world, because it's most comfortable for you as an introvert, is to get the other person talking, get them talking about themselves, what they do, what they need, what they're looking for. Because if they're talking, you don't have to be right. You get to listen. You get to play that comfortable role of listening and engaging only when necessary and being a part of that conversation but not carrying the burden of it. See, that's where a lot of introverts struggle. They feel that the burden of the conversation, the burden of the interaction, rests on their shoulders, And I'm here to tell you that it doesn't. I'm here to remove all of those bricks that are stacked up on your shoulders related to selling as an introvert because you think it's all about you, and it isn't. It doesn't have to be about you.

8:48 It shouldn't be about you. It should be about your prospects. So if you're an introvert and you're hearing that, I want you to take a deep breath, exhale and realize the pressure isn't on you. It really truly isn't. And I mean that sincerely. I want you to all understand that, because if you can embrace that mindset, it becomes that much easier for you to sell and create amazing results as a sales professional, versus you carrying that burden of thinking that you have to constantly be shouldering at all yourself. You don't. It is really up to them, the other person that you're interacting with, to do the majority of the work. Now, how you make that happen requires you to become very good at certain things. And for some of you who are introverts, whether you recognize this or not, you probably are already pretty good at this next topic because it's a life skill. It's a coping mechanism when you're an introvert. And I know this because long before I ever was in professional selling, I was very introverted.

9:59 I know people that know me and have known me for a long time might disagree with that, but I'm going to tell you I would be incredibly uncomfortable. I would be nervous. I had intense call reluctance. I struggled picking up the phone and calling people. I struggled walking up to somebody and engaging them in conversation. It made me nervous. It almost sometimes almost made me feel nauseous going through that. But what I realized over time, with a lot of support and training, that it wasn't about me. It was about the other person. And I learned this one particular skill that changed everything for me. And it was the skill of asking impactful questions of the people that I was speaking with. See, when you ask impactful questions, when you put it out there in front of somebody and you ask something of them that requires them to respond, the pressure shifts to them and you are now gathering information.

11:03 You are gathering data. Now you're also doing a couple of other things that will make you wildly successful in selling. Whether you knew it or not, you are starting to earn their trust and starting to build what I call to be the most important thing that you need to do, building that trusted advisor status. See when you ask questions of people and they're open ended questions that require them to respond in detail, and you start gathering that information and then maybe you have to ask a very short qualifying question to learn a little bit more, and then they respond some more, you're building up your trusted advisors status in the eyes of that person. And let's just take a step out of a business environment, a selling environment, and let me give you an example in a personal way. See, if you're interacting with somebody on a personal level, a friend of family members, somebody that you know, an acquaintance, and your conversation is entirely about you, and it's all about you, it's me, me, me, the whole way through.

12:15 Are they really engaged with you or are you just ranting? Right? But if you ask a question and they respond and then you clarify it, maybe ask a follow up question and they respond, and that goes on for a little bit. You're actually engaging in a productive conversation. Now at some point they might turn around and then ask you a question. But the key when you're an introvert to be able to break through that is to make sure that you're leading with the questions. You're directing it with the questions, because the more they talk, the more pressure is off of you at the beginning of the interaction. And the one thing that I will tell you that I've noticed as a recovering introvert, as somebody that had previously been an introvert, the sooner I could get people talking, the more comfortable I became. The sooner I could get people talking, the more comfortable I became. Once they started talking, I could catch my breath, I could focus much more easily.

13:29 The other skill that's really important to recognize is when you get people talking first and they're sharing information with you, it solves one of the biggest problems that introverts carry with them. It's the question of what am I going to talk about? What am I going to say? What am I going to what am I going to put out there. Well, if they are answering questions and talking about things, they're giving you what to talk about. They're sharing with you what's important. They're telling you what they need, want desire, what problems they have, what solutions they feel they need. They're telling you all of this stuff. And that's so important to an introvert because when you're an introvert, if somebody shares with you the topics, if they share with you what's important, it becomes that much easier for you to get comfortable talking about those things. Because if you don't have that to work with and maybe this will resonate with you when I describe this, If you don't have that to work with, and you personally are sourcing for what to talk about, what to say, how to engage them when it comes to the meaningful part of the dialogue. See, that puts a lot of pressure on you as an introvert, right, that puts those bricks back on the shoulders. It just feels like you're way

14:59 down and hard for you to break through that. But by flipping that script and asking some impactful questions to kind of jump start the conversation, you find yourself in a place that they are doing a lot of the work for you. They are doing the heavy lifting. And I want you to think of another example. You know, when when you're ever in a public setting, or you're in an environment where it requires you to interact with people, and you're an introvert, the hardest question to lead with is the first one. Everything after that, if done the right way, will get easier. It's that first one, Okay, that first question, that first output that you share with somebody.

15:47 So how you go about doing that, And when you're an introvert, is you make the first question an easier warm up question, and then as you get comfortable, you may make your follow up questions a little bit more detail oriented, a little bit more specific, because you now know kind of what to work with. But see, for a lot of people, they feel that that burden rests with them, like they have to know what to say in its entirety, and they have to be able to put all of what they know on display. See, these are the things that go on in the back of an introvert's mind. And I know I know this. Not only have I experienced this, but I have worked with many, many people that were introverted I've trained many people to become very successful sales professionals even when they were introverted.

16:44 And the reason I was able to do that is by breaking down the small little barriers or walls to your success. And that's what we're really digging into. These are just walls. They're barriers to your success. But once you start navigating through some of them and you get that conversation going, it becomes much much easier as an introvert to be successful in selling. In fact, I will tell you, believe it or not, that introverts have an advantage. That's right, introverts have an advantage. Now what is that advantage?

17:25 What is your superpower as an introvert? Right? Well, your superpower as an introvert is you are naturally going to defer to the other person if you can possibly do it. Right, if you can possibly do it, you're going to figure out a way to get that other person to talk more than you talk. And I will tell you that that is the exact positioning that you want to have if you're going to be wildly successful in selling. Now, I'm not saying you can't talk, and I'm not saying you won't have to talk at certain points, of course, will What I'm saying is, I think you have an advantage if your natural default setting is to put people in a place where they communicate more than you see.

18:12 People think sales is about you doing all the talking. They do all the listing, and somewhere at the end of all of that they make a decision. And for a lot of unsuccessful people, that's the way selling works. But for people that are wildly successful in selling, the people that are elite, the top performers, they understand impact sales. They understand how to focus on the impact of what that person wants, needs, desires, is looking for right, They understand that, and then they dig into the impact of that. Well, that comes from asking good questions, and it comes from allowing that other person, again, your default setting, if you're an introvert, allowing that other person to do the majority of the talking. One of the questions I get asked a lot by people when I'm coaching them or or training them on selling is well, what's the anatomy of a proper sales call or a proper sales engagement? What does it look like? And yeah, of course the easy answer is, well, a successful one anyone that's you know, successful that generates a sale. But I'm not talking about that.

19:23 I'm talking about on average, what is a very productive anatomy for a sales call. Well, I will tell you, and you could break it out a lot of different ways. I'm not going to get into each individual section of it, but I am going to say this. If your prospect is talking two to three times more than you are talking, you are on the right side of the equation. If that is reversed, if you are talking two or three times more than your prospect is talking, you are not where you want to be. And that should be music to the introvert's ears. It should be something that every introvert out there is excited to hear because it's not about you having to do all that talking. Now. I know, sometimes that initial outreach is the hardest piece. And I don't care if it's an email, a text message, a phone call, a zoom call, and in person meeting walking up to somebody on the street, I don't care what it is. It's that breaking the ice, that initial piece that can be the most uncomfortable and the most challenging sometimes.

20:42 So I'm going to give you a little trick. I'm going to share with you how I want all you introverts to be thinking about your efforts when it comes to selling. And it is no different than how everybody should be thinking about their efforts and selling. But I'm going to specifically dial this down and dial this into introverts. You need to stop thinking about selling and focus exclusively on serving your prospects, your clients, and solving problems. And I say that to make sure that you're focusing on the right things. I say that to make sure that you're taking pressure off of yourself again, removing barriers to your success, taking those bricks off your shoulders. Right. By having a servant mindset, having a solution oriented mindset, you stop thinking about selling. See, when you're an introvert, it becomes that much more challenging when you know there is going to be some piece of the interaction that could become right. And too many times people think that selling creates this awkward moment at the end of the interaction where you're going to ask for the business. They're going to be awkward. It's just not going to go the

22:13 way that I would like it to go. I'm going to get it. That's right, the dreaded R word rejected, rejection right, nobody wants to think about rejection. Most elite sales professionals understand that if their mindset is one of service, and they are focused on solutions, and they are focused on providing a positive impact for their prospects and clients, the sales will take care of themselves. The sales will take care of themselves. And I mean that sincerely. Where pressure is added, especially if you're an introvert, is when you feel this pressure coming up to a certain point in the interaction, this tension, this awkwardness, right, this awkwardness because you know the next piece is to ask for the business or for things to move forward. Now, some cases where people are introverted, they're too shy or uncomfortable with even asking. I've worked with a lot of introverts, and sometimes they do everything right, they do a masterful job of getting to the point of asking for the business, and they don't that little introvert in them jumps up and says no, no, no, you can't ask for the business.

23:36 And it's that type of tension that you want to avoid. So if you want to create massive sales results as an introvert, you need to shift your mindset away from selling and shift it towards service. Be solutions oriented, create an impact, provide solutions to problems, serve your prospects and your clients. These are the things that are going on in your head, not the sale is coming up, the clothes is coming up. What's going to happen if they have this objection? What's going to happen if they have that objection? Right when you're an introvert, you start going through all those mental gymnastics of thinking about what can go wrong. Focus on how you can serve your prospects in your clients. Now, how you determine how you can best serve them, best support them, best deliver impact is by asking those very focused, impact oriented questions in the process.

24:40 It's one of the things that I teach people when I work with them. With the sales activist, it's all about creating impact by asking the right questions, getting your prospect talking, making a much more conversational and if you do that well, they'll tell you everything you need to know about what it would require or for you to work with them. But that is a much less stressful engagement. See if people spend a lot of time describing how important something is to them, how meaningful it is, or how big of a problem it is, and how badly they need to correct it, or how much they need to take that next step in their business or personally, and how badly they need something like what you may offer to help them accomplish that. Well, see, you put them in an emotional state related to that element, whatever it is, whether it's a need, a desire, an outcome that they're trying to accomplish. You put them in an emotional state, and that emotional state is what will prompt them taking action. So when you're an introvert, you don't have to hunt for what those things are. If you've asked the right questions, if you put yourself in a position to truly understand your prospects, because you took the pressure off of yourself as an introvert and you put

26:12 it on them, they would have told you. They would have sometimes even listed here's what I need. I'm looking for this, I need this, this will help my life this way, this will change my business that way. You'll have all of that available to you to be able to work with and show them how you can accomplish that for them, and it makes selling a much easier process. It just does. So I hope today's episode for the introverts that listen. If for those that aren't introverts that want to listen to this content, you're going to get a lot from it as well. I hope you've taken this information and recognize that even if you're introverted, you can be wildly successful in sales. In fact, I would love to talk to you if you're an introvert, because I love working with introverts. I believe introverts do have a natural competitive advantage based upon the way they are wired.

27:10 It's just about readjusting that sometimes how you utilize that superpower. So I hope you're getting the message loud and clear. To be successful in selling and create massive success as an introvert, you need to focus yourself around getting your prospect to talk more, uncovering what is important to them. It takes the pressure off of you, it removes those bricks from your shoulders, and you need to focus on solutions. Focus on solving those problems. Okay, but it comes from having a true servant mindset, a solution oriented mindset. So if you're an introvert that's concerned about the engagement of selling, take the pressure off and think about service. Think about being a servant leader, think about being their trust and advisor.

28:01 Let the sales take care of themselves. I promise you, if you do the right things, you ask the right questions, the sales will absolutely happen. So I want to make sure that for all the introverts out there, you realize that you have such an amazing opportunity in front of you in sales, and it's just about harnessing some of those superpowers and utilizing them a different way. So we've been through a lot of material. I'm going to just take a quick break. I'll be back in just a moment. Stay tuned, see you soon, and we're back. This is Joe Beck, founder of The Sales Activist, and I just want to thank you for joining us today for this episode of creating massive sales results as an introvert. If you are an introvert or somebody who struggles with even feeling like you're an introvert and it's holding you back from sales success, take heart. You know you can absolutely break through and create massive sales success. Even if you're an introvert. If I can help you in any way, it would be my pleasure to do so. I love working with introverts. You could connect with me by texting the word sales to the number four oh nine five oh nine seven three five five. I would love to connect with you help you in any way that I can.

29:21 This is Joe Beck, founder of The Sales Activist and this has been the Impact Sales Podcast. We'll see you as soon. Take care,