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Sales Training: Selling to Extraverts

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Everyone uses both extraversion and introversion, but they tend to use their preferences in some situations and their non-preferences in others.  This can result in you misjudging someone’s preferences.

The solution is to look at behaviours in situations of free choice.  People tend to use their preferences more often when they are able to do what they will.  They tend to use their non-preferences more when they have to because in certain ways because of the situation, or because they need a break or relaxation after an extended period of using their preferences.  For example, you might see someone acting in an extravert way when making a sales presentation to a group, and taking a quiet break when they have finished.  That’s a normal thing for people of all preferences to do, because group presentations usually involve a lot of extraversion.  To find out their real preferences, see what they do after they have had time to recover and are more relaxed.

Below are the types of behaviours that are indicative of a preference for extraversion (you should look for these in free-choice situations):

• actively seeks involvement in social activities
• is expressive of thoughts, and tends to think aloud
• tends to get involved in many tasks
• takes a broad perspective in discussions
• tends to interact with people and the environment
• has an outward focus, on other people or things
• tends to act or speak first, and then think later
• communicates where possible by face to face discussion
• enjoys responding to issues as they come up

Everyone is an individual, so but the type of approach that tends to be more successful with extraverts includes:

• Talk face-to-face. If not, use the telephone. If you have to write, use E-Mail rather than paper, and use short notes.
• Maintain ad hoc, frequent contact. Have informal discussions in preference to formal meetings.
• Cover a wide range of subjects and don’t force the discussion too deeply into one topic
• Solicit immediate reactions and be prepared for the Extrovert to take, or expect, immediate action
• Allow the Extrovert to think aloud, to develop ideas as he/she is talking and to change his mind

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