Discover Your Inner Salesman

From the moment a baby smiles at their mother because it wants her to smile back, it is entering a transactional world.

Like it or not, most of our actions provoke some sort of reaction and our behavior partly dictates the behavior of those we interact with. Consciously influencing the behavior of others is a complex business, and definitely something that takes a lifetime to understand fully.

Do you think the mother would be so cheery if the baby were crying all the time? If the mom ignored the child, the crying might soon stop. If the mom showed the child the attention that it was craving, the crying might continue. The behavior in that particular relationship would become self-reinforcing, and would probably continue until the child enters pre-school. The derision of the other children would soon kerb the attention seeking crying, but the child would find other attention seeking behavior. It might seek to be the loudest, the cleverest or the most popular.

The baby that craved and received attention on tap could be seen to go on to become an extrovert in life. They understand that their actions always carry some sort of reaction and over time these actions might become ever more exaggerated. These types are the natural salesmen of our world, they exude confidence and seem to thrive on attention. As long as their ego has not been stroked too many times, these extroverts will not find it hard “making friends and influencing people.”

However, what about the babies who maybe cried and were left to their own devices? Many of them will grow up to lead balanced lives, but for those with a more insular bent, a slightly more introverted life beckons. Now, being introverted is no bad thing. Many introverts are hugely contented with their lot in life; they don’t need external reinforcement of “who they are” and many have a healthy internal dialogue around what they value in life.

It is when they need to influence others that introverts sometimes struggle. They may not have had the attention-seeking upbringing, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t an inner-salesman inside each of them. If their parents had given them that attention when they cried, they might have been hardwired to seek it out later in life. I believe that our “nurture” plays a significant role in the development of our personalities, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have the inner potential to act in a different way.

So, for every introvert going into a sales meeting or an interview, I would like you to think about this:

You can choose your behavior in any given situation. Just because you are used to downplaying your role and being modest, it doesn’t mean you can’t “talk yourself up” when it is really needed. If your voice is not heard and your actions not noticed in the race to be promoted, there is every possibility that you will be overlooked. If you can’t examine and explain your past experiences in detail at an interview, how will your potential employers gain an insight into your ability? If you can’t sell yourself and your company at a sales pitch, will the potential clients think that you don’t want their business as much as the others?

You do want to be promoted, you do want that job and you do want that business. There is nothing stopping you switching on that inner salesmen, and when you have done it a few times, you will know that he/she is always there to be called upon.

You may not want to live your life like that, and you certainly don’t have to, but sometimes that inner salesman can make a big difference to where it takes you.