5 Surprising Reasons Ambiverts Can Make Great Salespeople

When hiring a salesperson, you might automatically assume that you should hire someone who is very extroverted.

After all, you would think that an extrovert’s outgoing nature and social skills would make them a great addition to your sales team.

However, recent studies have shown that ambiverts out-perform both extroverts and introverts in the sales department, generating 24 percent more revenue than introverts and 32 percent more revenue than extroverts.

So what exactly is an ambivert?

An ambivert lies on the spectrum of social interaction somewhere between an introvert and an extrovert.

Typically, they are neither particularly outgoing nor reserved – their personality largely adapts to their situation and environment, helping them connect with customers more easily and close more sales.

To make the hiring process easier, you can administer a sales personality test to your candidates. Once you get the results back, you should strongly consider hiring a candidate who has tested as having high-Drive and also shows signs of being an ambivert.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Ambiverts can easily adapt to a customer’s needs.

Someone who is very extroverted may be too excitable and talkative to build a relationship with a customer and close a sale. Occasionally, with extroverted salespeople, conversations can end up becoming one-sided, leaving the customer frustrated.

On the other hand, some introverted salespeople may be too reserved and timid when talking to customers, failing to create a sense of urgency and close the sale. Both of these types of salespeople may not possess the flexibility needed to change their sales tactics based on the individual customer’s personality.

Ambiverts have the best of both worlds – instead of being too talkative or too quiet, they are able to strategically alternate between speaking and listening, adapting to the customer’s specific needs throughout the conversation. By doing so, they put customers at ease, gain their trust, and therefore increase their likelihood of closing the sale.

2. They are confident without coming across as cocky.

For very extroverted salespeople, cockiness can occasionally be a pitfall. After all, clients do not want to feel like they are being sold to and taken advantage of by a salesperson who seems arrogant and unlikeable. Instead, they would rather feel informed and work with a salesperson who truly listens.

That is what ambiverts are great at – listening. As a result, a customer who is being helped by an ambivert is more likely to feel like he or she is talking to a trusted advisor instead of a “used car salesman” type, which makes him/her more likely to make a purchase.

3. They can be analytical without coming across as cold.

Many ambiverts are able to easily analyze a customer’s personality, tone of voice, and wants/needs. Then, they use the information they have gathered to adjust their pitch accordingly and close the sale, building a rapport with the customer throughout the process.

Extroverts and introverts, on the other hand, can both struggle with this.

Extroverted salespeople may make their customers feel too rushed and pressured. This can result from a lack of analyzing the customer’s needs, which hinders the extroverted salesperson from thinking of ways to meet those specific needs.

Introverted salespeople may be so analytical that they come across as unfriendly. They may overanalyze and plan the conversation ahead to a fault, which is likely to stop them from seamlessly adjusting the conversation based on the customer’s specific personality and needs.

4. They are persistent without being overly aggressive.

Very extroverted salespeople can occasionally be pushy, turning off buyers.

On the other hand, very introverted salespeople may fear rejection to the point where they are not pushy enough.

Ambiverts tend to find the right balance between informing the customer and pushing the customer to make a purchase. They often possess an intuitive understanding of their customers’ emotions, and this allows them to adjust their aggressiveness based on what approach they feel will work best with each specific customer.

5. They often have the Drive that is needed to get top results.

A successful salesperson is an achievement-oriented salesperson. While ambiverts may not be as outwardly expressive as extroverts, an incredibly Driven person may be hiding behind the ambivert’s calm exterior.

Simply put, Drive is the ultimate determining factor in whether or not the salesperson you hire will be successful. Drive is made up of the following 3 personality traits:

1. Need for Achievement: Salespeople who possess this trait are self-motivated and seek to do well in all of their endeavors.
2. Competitiveness: Competitive salespeople seek out every opportunity to outperform their peers and win their customers over.
3. Optimism: Optimistic salespeople do not take rejection personally and are resilient.

These traits cannot be taught and are absolutely critical when it comes to success as a salesperson. Do not make the mistake of wasting both your time and your money by hiring someone who does not possess Drive. If you do, you are sure to end up disappointed by his or her sales results.

Next time you are hiring a salesperson, have your candidates take an expertly-developed sales personality test, like The DriveTest™, to discover if they possess the Drive needed to generate serious revenue for your business.

By testing your candidates before you hire them, you can minimize the risk of hiring someone who is unable to get the sales results you need. This is especially important since a bad hire can cost your business a lot of money.

By administering a personality test specifically developed for salespeople, next time you are looking to hire a successful salesperson, you can take the guesswork and frustration out of hiring and find the right person for your team.

Is your most successful salesperson an ambivert, an extrovert, or an introvert? Share your story in the comments below!