Manage your introversion without compromise

Based in Australia, iPerform, is a leadership training company who has staff onboard who on occasion bring a blog post to me I just want to share with you. You know how we talk about being sales reluctant often because of make-me-sick kind of extroverted selling tendencies taught to us? Here are some ideas to help you dust of that feeling and continue to be authentic to yourself.

Manage your introversion without compromising personality issues

Introverts have more control over situations and on-the-job issues than they usually think they have. Introverts also have one huge social advantage – They recognize and respect other people’s space and sensitivities in any social environment. If you’ve never done sales training, you may be surprised to hear that’s very good sales technique. “Managing introversion” really means adapting it to situations and issues.

Introverts often feel that they’re being pushed into being pseudo-extroverts by social situations. This is a particularly irritating concept, and almost personally insulting in that it feels like you’re actually being asked to be somebody else.
As a matter of fact, it’s a version of a far more familiar situation – The general cluelessness of non-introverts who simply don’t understand even the basic ideas and emotions involved.

If you’re asked to make a presentation or interact with a large group of people, you may feel you’re being asked compromise some core values and preferences.

This is where the “recognition and respect” sales technique approach comes in and it’s very effective. Sensitivity and awareness of the space and feelings of others also means heightened social skills. Introverts, by definition, are better social navigators than most people.

When making a presentation a statement to a group, you have full control over where that situation goes.

For example:

• You can choose the topics
• You can choose the information available
• You can direct the logic of the situation
• You can ask questions

This is actually a sales technique. Good sales people don’t charge up to customers and talk to them to death. Quite the opposite. They simply raise the issue of what the customer wants, provide information as required, and make suggestions.

Instead of “This is a terrific product…”, They’re far more likely to start a dialogue with the simple control question, “Can I help you?” This approach is exactly what it looks like – Managing social interactions. The good salesperson is very much aware of the likely sensitivities and reactions to a hard sell sales pitch.

Some of the best motivators in the world will tell you that intrusive spiel and invasive babble are the worst possible techniques for talking to anyone about anything. They can be extremely counter-productive and often lead to conscious sales resistance. These are the behaviours that introverts avoid on principle. The introvert’s best social mechanism in these environments, ironically, is simply to be oneself.

These are situations where compromising personality traits really would be a bad move for an introvert. In customer service training, the common factors between customer service and introversion are that customer service training teaches people to listen to others and exercise their own their judgment, as introverts do naturally.

You don’t need to be “fizzy” and outgoing to manage any social and business situations. Best practice, ironically for introverts, is to stay in character. You will get more respect for being yourself and not being superficial. Claude Hopkins, the father of American advertising, said long ago that people strongly resist hard sell. The introvert’s natural approach, which is soft sell with substance, always works better in any social environment.

What other natural tendencies do you have that you believe will help you in your marketing, sales and networking?