A thousand years ago tribes competed, sometimes violently, for resources and power. We humans learned to like people who are like us, and to be suspicious of those who aren’t.
Fast forward to 2019 where salespeople (and all of us) are trying to sell our ideas and products to other people. Those prospects, like people who are like them, and are suspicious of those who aren’t. If they are put off by differences, they may not even be really sharing or listening at all, and not giving the seller a chance.
This is why salespeople who are extreme introverts or extreme extroverts don’t make the best salespeople. No. The best personality for a salesperson is the one who can create an open connection with the most other people – the ones who are the most flexible. These people have a balanced disposition; they are in between introversion and extroversion.
When in front of an extrovert, they can be like their prospect. When in front of an introvert, they can be like their prospect. They are comfortable modifying their body language, pace, tone, speed and inflection to match the other person and make them feel comfortable. They are comfortable either way.
Are you an extrovert, introvert or “ambivert”?
Agree totally, that’s the basic premise behind neuro linguistic programming. It works.
I agree. Mirroring is how I recall this behavior being referred to in sales training. Some people are born with this talent and others can learn from training too.