Rise Of The Introvert
I’ve been beating this drum regularly but conventional wisdom takes time to change. CareerJournal.com offers up a Jurassic quote in Want to Work on Commission? Make Sure You Have a Nest Egg (emphasis mine):
The inconsistent nature of working on commission doesn’t suit everyone. Here are some tips for those considering the switch:
1. Evaluate Your Personality
Working on commission requires establishing relationships, massaging deals and building trust with clients. In order to be successful, it helps to be a “people person.”
“Introverts will not succeed on commission,” says Rick Gold, vice president of Strategic Workforce Solutions Inc., a full-service search firm in New York. “Clients don’t necessarily do business with me because I’m the best recruiter ever, it’s because I build relationships and trust,” he says.
Pure poppycock. Just take one moment to comprehend the vast ignorance of this sweeping generalization. I cannot count how many sales “introverts” we have assessed for our clients who are wildly successful. One of our customer’s top salesperson, an introvert, is paid commission only and makes over $1,000,000 per year. I’m not sure what the definition of “succeed” is in Mr. Gold’s world, but $1M per year in commissions is success in my world.
Here is where sales has changed due to the Internet. In the era before the Internet, researching a company and/or their offerings was a difficult task that usually involved word-of-mouth or direct contact with the company. This approach suited the extrovert’s style in that they could over rely upon their communication ability (rapport, bonding, entertaining).
Now the internet puts volumes of data at the prospect’s fingertips. Besides the company’s website, there are other sites that rate and review companies or products. There are blogs dedicated to cross reference for individual experiences. There are even technical sites that break down specifics of the company’s products.
The prospect making his or her first contact with the company is well informed of the company’s offerings. The prospect probably has some detailed questions and is a handful of clicks deep into the company’s website. This approach plays well to the introvert’s natural style. They are able to click into the detailed discussion with the prospect. Of course, this is just one facet of their sales abilities – and the least important facet. The salesperson’s skills, aptitudes and motivations will tell you more about their overall ability and their likelihood to succeed in a commission-only position.
Posted By Derrick Moe | Communication,Sales Techniques | | 
Comments(2)
I think you should learn how to write in proper grammar before deciding to judge another man’s words as “ignorant”. There are so many grammatical errors in your writing that I can’t help but feel like a 10 year old is calling me ignorant.
I also think that you are flat out wrong (although my words were taken a bit out of context). Here is an official definition of the word introvert:
in·tro·vert /n., adj. ˈɪntrəˌvÉœrt; v. ˌɪntrəˈvÉœrt/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[n., adj. in-truh-vurt; v. in-truh-vurt] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a shy person.
2. Psychology. a person characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings (opposed to extrovert).
You find me a shy person who only is concerned with their own thoughts and feelings and I’ll show you a shitty salesman. The people that you call “introverts” at your clients that are making 7 figures (if they exist and are truly introverts by this definition) are the exception, not the rule.
By nature, a sales position is one in which you must consistently go outside of your comfort zone and reach out to people you do not know and try to make a connection that will lead you to business.
Sales jobs are a shy person’s WORST fear. IF someone acted shy in an interview with me to sell on my team, I would not hire them; and if they went somewhere else and became a sales dynamo then I would congratulate them, but I would stick to my guns and make the same decision again if another shy person came to interview with me. Because successful sales “introverts” are the exception not the rule.
Clearly you must understand this. I think you are just trying to find topics to write about in your grammatically challenged newsletter, and maybe didn’t think it through properly before attacking my comment as “ignorant”.
Rick – thanks for your comment and perhaps my wording was a bit strong. The line I took issue with was your broad statement, “Introverts will not succeed on commission.” I take it from your comment that you were implying shy salespeople will not succeed on commission. Unfortunately, introvert and shy are not synonymous.
Carl Jung originally defined the introverted attitude (his choice of words) as a person oriented towards the inner, subjective world. In a time of emotional stress, this person tends to withdraw into himself or herself and to avoid other people.
We have some residue in our thinking from using the Myers-Briggs tool which comes from Jung’s work. In that assessment, the introvert refers mainly to someone who gains “energy” back by solitude. They can still be quite social, they just need time to “recharge” on their own.
That is the context in which I took your statement. Hopefully you see why I still disagree with it. The 7 figure, commission-only salesperson is an exception no matter what their style. My point was that this salesperson is an introvert which makes him a remarkable counterpoint to your aforementioned statement.
We assess salespeople every day and have found that introverts (as I have defined them) are quite effective salespeople in today’s world. We often characterize them as snipers. They pick their targets, lock on to them and close them with tenacity. Extroverts grab two machine guns and charge the hill.
Despite all of this banter, the real key to finding strong salespeople is to focus on their sales skills, motivations and aptitudes. Style is style (introvert vs. extravert) – it is not the best determination for successful sales hiring. Therefore, it should never be a knockout factor.
In regards to the grammatically-challenged writing, we are having a slight page-loading problem with our blog. The work-around is to hit refresh in your browser. The page will then load properly with all of our poorly-constructed sentences!
Thanks again for your comment.