Selling While Shy: Introverts in Sales

Guest Post by Emily from College Match Up

While it sounds counter-intuitive to declare introverts make the best salespeople, their characteristics may truly make them a perfect fit for the job. Introverts make up 50.7% of the personality types in the  United States. An illustrated chart of the introverted personality types shows the percentage of different introverts in the general public.

Sales jobs are expected to increase by 5% in the next decade and by 2024 there are a projected 778,000 new sales jobs to be created. What traits do industry specialists find make for a good salesperson? Assertiveness, self-awareness, empathy, problem-solving skills, and optimism.

So how are the qualities of an introvert useful in a sales setting? Well, they are often quiet and thoughtful which works well in a sales setting because customers are often put off by the high-energy assertive employees. Also, introverts themselves prefer to be helped by other introverts. Also introverts communicate best one-on-one, which is great for sales because they can really connect with their customers. Introverts are known to form few deep attachments rather than many, shallow friendships. This works for them in sales because they can form deeper relationships with their customers than extroverts, leading to people trusting them more. Introverts are reflective as well, this is great for a job in sales because they are always looking back on their performance and wondering how they can do things better.

So, what kind of career options are there for introverts who want to try working in sales? Introverts might try out being advertising sales agents, real estate brokers, sales engineers, or travel agents to name a few.

Source: CollegeMatchup.net