Is Active Selling For Introverts At All?

Introverts believe that any form of open information about the product or service sounds already like hard selling. You need to reach out to people and explain what your product or service is about. You need to run the sales conversation, react to opinions, convictions, hesitations. Hence the selling process seems like a nightmare for them.

“I hate selling, I am not a salesperson. I know that once I catch the client, I am really OK when sharing my stuff, but selling really sucks”.

I keep hearing this kind of comments frequently.  It seems that women generally prefer to share, discuss, explain, show, recommend, exchange, or describe but not brag about their achievements or passions. Bragging is not elegant, we prefer to believe that “a good product will sell itself.” Boasting, and hard-selling sucks! We are convinced that the real trading is for professional salespeople who are trained into this. Selling is demanding, complicated, and certainly costs a lot of stress.

“If I only push myself to chase the client, eventually, it is fine, but it is definitely not efficient, I feel exhausted at the end of the process, it is not natural for me.”

We, introverts and delicate personalities, do not like to brag, to show off, to speak about our achievements with a pure feeling of satisfaction and contentment. We prefer to keep that in the darkness and hope people will know anyway, they will learn somehow. Following the same logic, we also believe that sales will happen on its own.  And we are hugely disappointed when it does not. Lack of sales apparently can discourage everyone sooner or later. Perhaps you have already noticed that things are not the way they should be in your company and you look for some inspiration.

Let’s have a look at some scientific facts. The fascinating thing about human beings learning process is that we need to be told, shown, and explained to remember. Even once we see something with our own eyes, we still need to be introduced into the details to grasp the idea. Only then the human brain makes the necessary connections and remembers – in our case associates the person with the concept. It is not enough to show something once or say it once. You need to share, be visible, and explain your idea several times. That is why we need to see the advertising seven times to remember the promoted brand! What is has to do with an online business? Everything! In order, your sales could happen just like that you need to communicate with the world, and with your potential clients frequently. Unfortunately, there is no way you can avoid that. To succeed in an online world, you need to do any form of active selling. Preferably every day.

Bad news for you? Maybe not! The trick here would be doing it with a style that is unique for you, 100% in line with your personality and preferred way of operation. You need to do it your way, and be you! Don’t try to copy or mimic someone else or pretend to be someone you are not. Your public will sense it immediately. They will see the mask on your face. In my opinion, authenticity and your own genuine style of communication is a fundamental solution here. We all have a tendency to look for easy answers and be inspired by those who seem to be successful. Their individual style may sometimes be too loud, the other times too pushy and feeling awkward. This will not fit your personality if you try to copy it one to one. Each of us has areas of expression that match our nature and style.

So for a start, try to master the areas of marketing communication where you feel more comfortable. For example, if everyone seems to be blogging and you hear that you should too, but writing is not your thing – find another way of expression and being with your community. Perhaps you prefer podcasting or video streaming or short forms like posts on social media. That could work for a start. Anything that will allow you to express yourself and be visible with your authenticity. With the time being, you will master this one area, feel comfortable in it and at some point be ready to take a leap grabbing another piece into your active selling puzzle. Remember that any form of selling is the highest form of expressing love for your customers.

Several people tried to push me really hard to promotional videos, as there is a trend now on Facebook, but this is totally not my thing. You focused on my way of working and my readiness to execute particular communication pieces. And then you taught me how I can leverage them for my business.

My experience in this field is quite similar.  I am an optimistic introvert, determined to make things happen. In my own style, keeping my very personal and authentic way of expression. I stopped being corporate big fish and started my consulting business years ago. I have to admit that I was really well trained to make big presentations, to explain ideas on stage, to run the big and remote teams. But I was not trained at all in making active selling, reaching out to clients and prospects, and managing social media tribe.  Yet that was what I needed to make my dream come true. So I had to learn it and master it. Again respecting my personal needs. I started small introducing my Facebook fan page, then adding the Facebook group. I stayed active every day or every other day there. After about six months, I was ready to add videos and polls into it. At first, my videos were pre-recorded, and I have to admit I was much more stressed in the beginning how do I look than what I want to say to my tribe. But after several videos, I felt all right and could shoot them with minimal preparation, just taking care of the sound and light. Only recently, I felt ready for Facebook life events, I notice my commitment to do them several times a week! On top on Facebook, I have added yet another social media channel where I can locate my future clients. With time I will add the next one, and the next one. One step at a time. And the biggest reward I get is clients admitting that when they meet me in real life, I am exactly the same as it appears on social media. So there is no clash. I keep my integrity and authenticity.

In the era of social media, there are plenty of possibilities to share and brag a little in a very own, personal, non-hard selling style. And the rest is all about testing, analyzing, upgrading, revamping, testing again to achieve the top results.

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