One of the main reasons I wrote my book, Successful Selling for Introverts, was to help salespeople to succeed by using their own unique personalities rather than trying to copy what had been successful for someone else. To illustrate how potent a true, warm personality can be, let me tell you about a printing salesman I had the good fortune to meet. I was a corporate advertising guy, new to buying printing but had quite a large number of four-color printing jobs under my control. As you can imagine, printing salesmen were all over me: good ones, bad ones, and most somewhere in between. The man who stood out and received the majority of my business was Bob.
Bob was a quiet man. He spoke softly. He didn’t belong to a country club and never had a skybox to a baseball or football game. He never slapped me on the back or told me an off-color joke. If he ever closed on me I never felt it. And while he always dressed appropriately, he never overdressed with expensive suits and jewelry. He drove a nice but not too garish car. Lunch with Bob was more likely to be Denny’s than a trendy bar.
But what he did do was to take care of every printing need I ever had. He knew printing inside and out. Oftentimes, he would tell me that his firm could not compete on a particular job, but that he knew someone who could. I never was left in the dark about when my printing would be delivered. And when there was a problem, as there is inevitably in any business relationship, he took total responsibility and resolved my concerns quickly. As you might expect, Bob was successful not only with me, but also with many other loyal clients. It is easy to see why.
Let’s look at him from a customer’s point of view. He was not only quiet; he was a good listener. He was not just studious; his product knowledge outshone any of his competitors. He did obsess over details but his commitment saved me many an uncomfortble moment.
Now there may be some skeptics out there. Of course handling accounts can be the introvert’s domain, but what about new business? Don’t you have to be aggressive to get new business?
Obviously you do. But there are varying ways to be competitive. Bob was consistently the leading salesman for his printing company and he never made a cold call. That’s because he had a sales force of hundreds of customers like me singing his praises and creating new business for him. He was aggressive and competitive at being good.
Was Bob an introvert? Probably. Was he successful? He was very successful at being himself and serving his customers.
Bob was always a role model for me and he should be for you too.
Excerpted from Successful Selling for Introverts by Tom Murphy.
Learn more about Introvert Success. Stop by Tom Murphy’s site where you can find out all about his book Successful Selling for Introverts and what it can do for you.