Can Salespeople Change?

The question as to whether salespeople can change is certainly relevant to sales coaching and sales training.  Do they have the incentive to change? Are they capable of change?  Are they receptive to coaching and training?  Will they follow through and make the changes?

Looking beyond sales training and coaching, can people change who they are?

It is well documented in my books (Mindless Selling and my best-seller, Baseline Selling), videos, articles, speaking, training, and coaching that I am a lifelong acute introvert.  If you’ve seen my videos, participated in training, were in the audience for a presentation, or met me, you might be wondering, “How is that possible?  You’re so outgoing and charismatic, you’re likeable, and you connect so well…”

While that was all true when the meter was running, I transitioned back to my introverted ways when the meter was off. 

If you aren’t aware of the major difference between introverts and extroverts, extroverts GET energy from their social interactions while introverts EXPEND energy from those same interactions.  Simply put, being with and interacting with people in a social situation exhausted me.  It’s not that I couldn’t or didn’t know how, it’s that I didn’t want to because of how it made me feel.

When you think of a stereotypical salesperson, the one that comes to mind is outgoing and social, so extroverted.  But what does the data say?

Objective Management Group (OMG) has assessed nearly 2.4 million salespeople in 21 Sales Core Competencies.  According to its data, 62% of the best salespeople in the world (the top five percent) are introverts.  And even more remarkable, 84% of the worst salespeople in the world (the bottom ten percent), are extroverts. 

Are you wondering why most of the worst salespeople are extroverts and most of the best salespeople are introverts?  Easy answer: Introverts have a much easier time using a consultative approach to selling because they are so comfortable listening and asking questions!

Back to the topic. Can people change?

After Covid, interacting with people doesn’t bother me nearly as much.  I look forward to when my wife and I will have dinner with friends. I no longer dread being at an event and having to talk with other people.  I’m not exhausted after socializing.  Did I change?  Without trying, did I transition from being an acute introvert to being more like an extrovert?

When I shared this with my team on a daily huddle last month, Derek Baer thought the same thing was happening to him but in reverse.  He was a very social extrovert and now he feels more like an introvert.  Did he change?  Without trying, did he transition from being an extrovert to feeling more like an introvert?

After the huddle, Dennis Connelly conducted some research and after a very quick search, he found two academic articles that suggest people can experience those changes.

People can change, even when they aren’t proactively attempting to change.  But what if we are attempting to achieve a sales transformation?

If everyone on the sales team experienced an incremental improvement of just 10%, it would yield a 33% increase in revenue.  Don’t believe me?  Do the math…

It doesn’t require a herculean effort to change.  We just need to become 10% better and that starts with 10% more effort, 10% more commitment, 10% better tactics and 10% better follow through.  Everyone can do that, right?