Introverts Close More Deals Than Extroverts

All things being equal, introverts close more deals than extroverts. And I'm living proof of it. Now, I know it sounds backwards. One of the most common myths in sales is that being an extrovert helps you sell more stuff. And I get where it comes from, because if you've—if you've got a consultative sales process that requires, you know, business development, networking, running discovery, having conversations—it's easy to think that the outgoing, energized-by-people persona is going to be the one that closes more deals, but it's not necessarily the case, and I've got plenty of evidence to back it up.

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All right, so let me define what I mean first in terms of introverts and extroverts. An extrovert is somebody who gets energy by being at the networking event, by being around people, by chatting people up, right? And an introvert is somebody who's more than capable of doing all that stuff, but the process of doing it is draining.

Now, like think about it this way: an introvert and an extrovert go into a bar—and I’m kidding—like, an introvert and extrovert go into a networking event. The introvert leaves and goes, "Whew, like, all right, like, well, going back to my house. I need to—I need to recharge". The extrovert leaves that same event and they’re pumped, they’re jazzed, like they’re ready to go meet more people. Like that’s—that’s how they—they get the energy from being there, and the—and the introvert does the thing, but the energy is kind of zapped, right?

Why wouldn't the extrovert be more successful? Here's what I found: extroverts go to the business development events, they have the conversations, and the act of having the conversations and engaging with people is the reward for them, right? So they go to the Chamber event, or they go to a meetup, they talk to 30 people, they hand all these business cards, and they walk out thinking, "Oh, that was great, had a ton of great conversations, had fun," like the event itself, the process itself, is how they assess whether a good job was done. So they walk out with a great feeling as a result of just simply connecting with more people, because that's—that's what happens with extroverts.

The introvert goes into that same event, and they're there on like a fucking mission, right? Like they're not there because they enjoy it. They're not there to make 20 new friends; they're there to sell shit, which means if I'm talking to somebody and I realize this is like—this is probably not a business development opportunity, and like there's—there's probably no sale here, not a qualified person or company or whatever it is for whatever reason, then I move on. If the purpose of me being at an event is business development and I'm talking to somebody that's not going to help me move the needle on that thing, as an introvert, my first inclination is like, "Okay, let me move on then to find the—the qualified opportunity".

The extrovert not so much. Having the conversations like with the intent of business development activity that moves the needle is the goal. Like that's how they are going to measure success from an event—they don't want to just sit around and small talk with everybody just for the sake of small talk. So when the introvert leaves or when I leave, the success is measured on the number of qualified conversations or contacts or opportunities. It's measured on business because that's why I was there to begin with, right?

And the same dynamic actually plays out in the sales process too. So like an extrovert starts running their discovery playbook and before you know it, they've run out of time in a conversation because they've just chatted somebody up for—for way too long. Like yeah, they may have improved likability, you know, by having this, you know, ton of personal conversations and this and that and, you know, ton of charisma and da-da-da, but they haven't—they haven't necessarily improved credibility, right? Like they haven't improved like the accuracy of the diagnosis in that discovery call because they like to talk, they like people, they like being around people—that is the reward.

The introvert goes into discovery and says, "Okay, I need to come out of this thing—like I've got a mental checklist here—seven to ten things that I need to come out of this with: like is there a real problem to solve, is there value associated with that problem, is there urgency," like boom boom boom. And they’re—that's how they approach the discovery—they're going to move through their checklist and the—it's a very intentional conversation and that's—that's how the introvert approaches it.

And that's—that's the difference. Like the biggest challenge for extroverts is—is maintaining discipline and ignoring like the positive feedback loop that they get from simply enjoying the conversation and actually getting down to business and moving that process forward. The introvert—well, like that's the only reason they're doing this. Like they don't get inherent value out of a great conversation for the sake of a great conversation.

So, here's my argument: introverts are just as capable as extroverts of doing the business development, the networking, the sales process, the closing, everything else. The core difference from my experience is that the introvert is much more methodical about running the process—like they're much more intentional about what they define the success when it comes to creating opportunities and moving them forward. And because of that, when push comes to shove, all things being equal, I would rather have an introvert running my process, as long as—as long as they've proven that they can get over whatever discomfort they may have with the small talk, all that shit. All things the same, introverts close more deals.

That's my myth-buster episode for the day. Hope it helps. Adios.