The popular wisdom has it that those naturally gregarious souls with the gift of gab are the ones who close more sales.
Dan Pink, in his book, To Sell is Human, refutes that claim.
He says that 35 studies of over 4,000 successful sales people show no evidence of any correlation whatsoever between extroversion and performance in sales.
While introverts understandably fare very poorly in sales, pure extroverts achieve only slightly better results.
Extroverts often talk too much and listen too little he concludes. Plus their need to be liked often sidetracks them from focusing on closing the deal.
Top salespeople typically score midway between introverts and extroverts on a personality assessment. They are called ambiverts.
Ambiverts know when to talk and when to listen.
They are assertive enough to close deals but do so within a
framework of understanding their customer’s needs.
Fortunately, some 50% to 66 % of people are ambiverts.
What’s your take on these findings?
Is this something to bear in mind when hiring junior advisors for your team?
