Direct Sales For Introverts – How To Sell When You Hate Selling
7 Tips To Conquer Sales For Introverts
If you’re an introvert the very word “sales” might make you shudder. It might immediately paint images in your mind of standing face to face with a stranger forcing small talk and asking them to buy from you. The concept of sales can by paralyzing for introverts and, therefore, cause your whole business to fold or never even begin.
When I was a business unit manager at my former organization, it was my responsibility to manage and grow all aspects of a business unit. The company had a sales department for other products that provided me with some partnership and mentorship, but I was required to participate in sales meetings to bring companies on-board with my unit’s products. As an introvert, this part of my role was terrifying and pushed me FAR outside of my comfort zone. I attended sales meetings in multiple states, hosted webinars, and offered counsel to business owners and decision-makers, all while shaking nervously in my introverted boots. Engaging in sales activity was the one aspect of my job that I dreaded.
However, I learned a lot and in time my comfortability for the sales aspect of my job grew. As a result, I was also able to successfully grow my business unit. I never fell in love with sales or looked forward to in-person meetings or networking events, but I found that over time I was able to engage with sales in a way that built business relationships and grew my unit’s profit.
If you’re an introvert terrified of sales or struggling to build your business because of the need to sell, don’t lose heart. It can be much harder for us as introverts to engage in sales activities, but if you persevere and push yourself you will see growth in yourself and, most likely, your business too!
In this post, I want to share with you 7 ways to engage with sales as an introvert to help you grow your business when being in direct sales meetings terrifies you. I hope that some of these tactics help you to grow your business and push forward to success!
Tips To Engage In Selling For Introverts
1. Believe in what you are selling!
It’s incredibly hard to sell something if you don’t really believe in what you’re selling. As an introvert, it’s hard enough to push yourself out of your comfort zone to sell, but if you don’t believe in the product or service that you’re pitching it will be that much harder! When you love the product you are selling, it’s not difficult to rave about its benefits and recommend it in a relaxed way to others. However, if you are selling something simply because you need to and your heart is not behind it, engaging in sales will likely feel even more forced and dreaded.
If you’re considering jumping into a multi-level marketing company or starting your own business, make sure you will be selling a product or service that you really believe in! As an introvert, it will make your sales efforts so much less taxing.
2. Use Social Media
Isn’t it great that we live in an age of digital communication? That we can jump onto social media and interact with the world without ever needing to show our face or think of the right words to respond with immediately? Social media is a massively helpful tool for introverts to wade into sales activity! It’s not a replacement for meeting with customers in person, but engaging actively with your customers and/or prospects on social media can go a long way in helping you to develop relationships and sell.
Whether it’s posting consistently on various platforms and responding to comments or creating a Facebook group to directly interact with your customers, using social media can help you to engage with prospects and maintain relationships with your existing customers – all without stepping foot out of your house or having dreaded face to face sales conversations.
3. Send Text Messages
Like using social media, sending text messages can be a great way to interact with your customers without needing to get in front of them face to face. However, texting customers may not go over as well for some demographics – so gauge your target market and how communication via text message would be received. If you have a relatively strong connection to your customers already, texting can be a great way to check-in with them and build a relationship or share new opportunities or products. However, sending text messages can come across as intrusive or spam if you are sending messages to prospects that you don’t already have a connection with.
Text messages can be a great communication tool for introverts in sales if used appropriately. If your customers and/or target market are focused on a demographic that appreciates communication in text messages, sending them can help you to maintain or build a relationship without the strain of making phone calls or meeting frequently in person.
4. Maintain An Active Website
Having an online presence for your business is an extremely passive, but very important way for you to connect with your customers or prospects. In today’s day and age, many prospects look first at a company’s website to determine if the company’s products or services will meet their needs. Without even interacting at all, you can communicate who you are as a brand and what products or services you offer simply through creating and maintaining a website. If you begin to build a relationship with new prospects, you can send them to your website to “sell” them with more detailed information, and existing customers can use your website to re-order, contact you, or share your business with others. (Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool!)
If you don’t have a website for your business, it can go a long way to help you sell as an introvert. You can read a tutorial on how to get started creating one that’s set up well for search engines in my post here.
5. Host Video Parties Or Webinars
If you are part of a multi-level marketing opportunity or pitching a product that sells well with demonstrations, don’t let your business be held back by your fear of hosting parties or demonstrations. As an introvert, it may be far less nerve-racking and just as effective to host a virtual party or do a video demonstration rather than doing one live. I’ve been a part of multiple social media parties for multi-level marketing hosts and some of them have been a lot of fun! As an introvert, you can host parties this way or provide demonstrations by pre-recording video clips ahead of an event and interacting with participants over social media – no face to face or even live video time required!
Similarly, if your business focuses on providing valuable knowledge to your customers, running a webinar can be a great way to get in front of them without meeting face to face. Since webinars typically require hosts to share a presentation with participants live, they can be a little bit more nerve-racking than social media parties where you can pre-record. However, you don’t have to show your face as a webinar host if you present with slides!
You can learn more about how to host a webinar here.
6. Send Out Mailings Or Catalogs
Sending snail mail is not entirely dead! A very passive way to keep yourself and/or your products in front of your customers or target market is to send out a good old fashioned mailing. To really connect relationally with your customers you could send a hand-written card. Similarly, to keep your product selection in front of customers or introduce them to new products, sending a catalog can be a great idea.
Sending snail mail is an extremely passive way to connect with your customers as an introvert. However, keep in mind that following up on a mailing can go a long way in building relationships with customers or prospects, even though it’s more draining as an introvert.
7. Push Yourself Out Of Your Comfort Zone
If you’re reading this then you are probably hoping just to find several ways to get around engaging in face to face sales as an introvert. I get it. I’m with you. However, one of the best things that you can do to grow yourself and your business is to also push yourself out of your comfort zone and engage! If you only live inside of your comfortable bubble you can still connect with customers and grow, but there is no real substitute for connecting with customers and prospects in person.
Even if it’s just in little ways that grow over time, I think you will find that your confidence in yourself and your business will grow if you force yourself to participate in some uncomfortable sales situations. Maybe it’s just making an uncomfortable phone call. Maybe it’s attending a meeting that you dread. Maybe it’s engaging in small talk at a networking event. Pushing yourself will look different for every individual and business, but if it expands your personal limits it will help you grow.
If you can get out of your comfort zone even a little bit – and then pair that engagement with some of the other strategies listed above – I think you will reap big benefits. I know that has proven to be the case for me.
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Participating in sales as an introvert is hard, but not impossible. With a little bit of pushing yourself and the use of some introvert-friendly strategies, you can still build a dynamic and growing business. Sometimes it’s pushing forward through the things that are hardest that reaps the greatest reward in business.
I hope that these strategies help you to find the confidence to grow your business as an introvert. You CAN do it without draining all of your social energy or dreading every opportunity to connect.
However, you will struggle to succeed in sales as an introvert OR extravert if you don’t know who you are trying to reach! Make sure you also check out my post on defining your target market and creating a marketing strategy for your business before you hit the ground running!
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