High-End Sales Success for Introverts to Book Higher Paying Clients in Your Creative-Service Business
High-End Sales Success for Introverts to Book Higher Paying Clients in Your Creative-Service Business
- High-End Sales Expert for Unconventional Photographers and Creative Entrepreneurs.
Shifting Perspectives and Embracing Your Introverted Nature in Sales
Hey, fellow introverted entrepreneurs and sales enthusiasts! As an American expat master success coach and high-end sales expert, currently thriving in beautiful Iceland, I'm excited to delve into a topic that hits close to home for me - making sales as an introvert.
I proudly wear the badge of being a mega introvert, and I'm here to tell you that leveraging your 'uniqueness' is not just acceptable; it's your secret weapon in the world of business.
I've witnessed time and time again with my clients, that introverts feel like they are inherently bad at sales or business. It's high time we set the record straight because it really is so far from the truth! One of my passions lies in helping introverts not only succeed but thrive in the business arena.
So, if you're ready to embrace your introverted nature and discover the untapped potential within, you're in for a treat as I prove to you that introversion and high-end sales success can go hand in hand.
So firstly, what is being introverted? This is something that I think is often not understood. A lot of people think that we introverts are something that we aren't. Being an introvert or being an extrovert really just comes down to your energy, how you expend your energy, and how you need to replenish that energy.
It really is just about how we, as introverts, like to expend our energy, and how we need to replenish it afterward.
Being an introvert does not mean that you are antisocial. Nor does it mean that you're awkward or that you hate people, you just have smaller taps than extroverts, and you really need plenty of alone time, to be in your own head, in your own space, not being bothered to be able to replenish that energy. It’s all about energy management.
It has nothing to do with how you feel about people in general. It is purely about your energy. It's often a misconception that introverts hate people and don't like being in public, which is also not true. We love genuine connections and deep conversations.
My literal job as a CONFIDENECE & BREAKTHROUGH coach is to help people FIND SUCCESS (AND OFTEN GET GOOD AT SALES). My job in photography is to help people. I love people. I love my kind of people.
Another thing I absolutely love is guest speaking, training, and helping in other people's large groups. Of course that takes a lot of energy, but I really do love it and because I know how much energy this kind of interaction takes, I make sure to protect my time and my energy beforehand and afterward, as I take on these big energy-depleting tasks.
So if you are an introvert, you can still enjoy speaking and being out in public or the limelight, if you will, it's just really about how you take care of yourself throughout.
Over the years, I’ve come across a lot of people who deeply misunderstand introverts. They talk about us like we're these awkward quiet creatures that live in caves, never wanting to talk to others. But like I said, that's actually not true.
I choose my thoughts about my own introversion. I think that is key here, especially when it comes to making sales as an introvert and booking those higher paying clients.
Choosing your own thoughts throughout the entire sales process, whether they are about your introversion or not, is one of the key ways to succeed in your photography or creative business.
This also comes into play with how I choose my thoughts about being an introvert and what I believe and don't believe, for example, what I believe ‘quiet’ means. I don't believe that being quiet means that you're awkward and I don’t believe that you need to be the loudest person in the conversation to be a valuable part of the conversation.
If somebody thinks that I'm awkward because I'm not speaking enough or I'm choosing the corner to people watch versus being in the center or if I say no to big group hangouts sometimes, then that's honestly their own projection and their own issue, and it has nothing to do with me.
That is how I choose to think about my introverted ways. I don't think that there's anything wrong with it. I don't think it's a weakness in me, and I choose to actually think it's a strength, and I lean into my strengths.
I truly believe that my introverted nature in sales makes me a really good high-end sales expert and it also makes me a successful photographer and coach, providing exceptional high-end experiences.
I honestly don't think of it as a weakness, but I do know that a lot of people do see it as a weakness or may have their own unhelpful thoughts about their own introversion. I’ve come across many who even think that being an introvert could be the reason why they aren’t succeeding in sales.
I'm here to offer you a new perspective on understanding Introversion and its impact on sales.
Overcoming sales challenges is something I work closely on with my aligned clients and one of the challenges I see with introverts in making sales is that they just don't want to be loud and put themselves out there.
They loop in a conflict between wanting to make a lot of money and not wanting to be seen.
Whenever any of my clients are looping, they're unable to move forward and find the results or the success they really want. So in this instance, they keep looping, which will then stop them from making any sales and getting the clients that they want because they're in conflict of, “I have to be seen in order to make money” when it's not true. So it's a limiting belief in that aspect to overcome.
Sales success for introverts in your photography or creative business largely depends on embracing your unique approach.
Energy depletion is another challenge introverts in their creative businesses face. The definition of introversion for me is that the energy gets depleted a lot easier around people and around doing things that are outside of our head, whereas extroverts gain energy from doing that.
Our introverted energy taps easily get depleted, which does show up in the sales process.
Because introverts are extreme internal processors, sometimes we can be too much in our heads and our own world while being in an active selling conversation- which I call the active sales process.
You could be having overwhelming thoughts happening as your client or your lead is talking to you like a lot of self-talk about what you think may or may not be the best response. But, this could hinder your sales process dramatically. If you are constantly thinking about your own thoughts, your own chatter, where is the deep listening to your aligned client, whom you’ve invested time in to attract?
Active listening to your client is crucial to sales success for introverts. If you're listening to yourself, you're not listening to your client.
A lot of self-chatter going on in your head also means that you could potentially have a lot of feelings happening. Because we are very intuitive and very internal, we happen to be pretty tapped into our own emotions and our feelings so we really do notice and can be distracted by the feelings that are happening. Feelings create thoughts just as thoughts create feelings and so yes, we could get wound up in our heads sometimes. This does show up in the sales process.
Another thing I notice introverted creatives doing is always trying to stay under the radar and not put themselves out there to make offers. We need to make offers to sell our services, right? You can't make a sale if somebody doesn't realize you have something to sell, whether it be a service or solution. I’ve been there and done the same and the reason why we try to fly under the radar comes down to self-preservation. We understand only too well that we have a finite amount of energy, and it will get used up easily, especially in this extroverted world we live in, so we tend to preserve it, to avoid completely burning ourselves out all the time.
Sales success for introverts can also be hampered, at least in my experience, from not liking to use social media as a marketing strategy in their business as it just doesn't align with their unique introverted energy.
This reluctance to be seen keeps them flying under the radar and can negatively affect the sales conversation. Introverts are very intentional and like to choose what they say carefully. Sometimes they can begin to quietly freak out inside and end up not saying anything because they don't feel like what they have to say at that moment is good enough.
This could leave their leads confused or running the show in the active sales process seriously hindering the sales success for introverts. in reality, as a good salesperson and how I teach sales, you should be in control of the flow of the sales conversation at all times.
Flying under the radar won't allow you to be in control of the sales conversation because you won't be asking the kind of questions you need to ask. You won't be gathering the information that you should be gathering because, again, you'll kinda be in your own head a bit.
If like me, you struggle with small talk, believe me when I say that your introverted nature in sales can be and is your superpower!
Most introverts dislike small talk, and many think that to be successful in sales, you need to be effective in small talk, not at all. That’s not what sales is. So changing your perception about what successful selling is and isn’t will help you to relax and begin overcoming sales challenges in that specific area.
It's deep conversation, deep listening, and nurturing genuine connections that really matter if you want to book higher paying clients as an introvert.
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In sales, the importance of quiet intentionality in fostering genuine connections is key. The conversation matters, so not liking small talk as an introvert makes you really successful at high-end sales.
Another thing I find myself repeating often in my coaching is encouraging introverts to talk to their aligned clients on the phone instead of avoiding it because they think they don't know what to say. They worry that what is in their head will not make sense or will not be perfect. This stems back to us introverts knowing that we get our energy tapped quite easily, so it’s important for us to be very intentional with every word we choose, and who we engage with. Conversation for us really is an energy exchange and an energy depletion. The issue of feeling ineffective at small talk comes into play here too. That worry of getting on a consult call with a lead and finding yourself in that dreaded small talk situation. You know where like if somebody were to call you and you picked up, and it's just a bunch of small talk. And you're like, what does this conversation mean? Why is this happening? What's the point? Right? Because that's how we introverts are wired.
This is why I repeat, your introverted nature in sales is an incredible asset to your photography or creative business.
If you’re reading and relating to this and you too have been avoiding the phone, which I totally get, due to your own self-concept of introverts or worried about feeling awkward- it's really because you have not learned how to hold a sales conversation. That’s all.
But, if I were to offer you a perspective shift here that left you firmly believing that you are awesome at making sales, you love having conversations with your aligned clients, and knowing that at the end of this conversation, there’s a good chance you’re going to make money from it. Do you think you are going to feel more okay getting on the phone?
The answer to this is usually a HUGE yes! So then, it's not actually getting on the phone as an introvert that’s causing the issue, it's how you're perceiving getting on the phone and how you are actually having that conversation once you're on the phone.
Another thing that those with an introverted nature in sales might relate to when mapping out their marketing strategy is our love for our own space. More than anything, we love our alone time, I spend more time solo than doing anything else with anybody else. We're okay with having people in our space, but only when then they’ve been invited.
If you were to just show up to an extrovert's house to hang out, they will probably be okay with that, even excited to just watch TV with somebody. Right? But if you show up to an introvert's house unannounced to hang out, we will probably hide under the couch until you go away no matter how much we love you. The reason for this is to mentally prepare for people to be in our space because we know this will zap our energy. We need to have some lead time ahead of time to get out of our heads and back into the world around us.
As introverted creative business owners in sales, we tend to think that follow-ups, check-ins and even offering our services could feel like we are imposing, just like we would feel if somebody entered our space unannounced. But in selling, that's not actually what you're doing. You're just helping the person on the other end get a solution that they initially reached out to you for.
This is why for introverts, the cold DM sales messages from random people can feel really gross, like our boundaries have been stepped on a bit because they have as far as we’re concerned. But following up with leads is not the same thing as cold sales DMs from random people. I see this a lot with my introverted coaching clients, not wanting to follow up with their leads. They don't want to continue to engage in the conversation if they feel like their lead might have ghosted them. They equate it to their model of the world as if they were in their own living room and somebody had just burst through the door, uninvited, and wants to hang out. But that is not what selling is, and that's not what follow-ups are.
So, in order to make great high-end sales as an introvert, it’s worth investing some time into asking yourself if you relate to any of this. Overcoming sales challenges is all about embracing your unique approach in your photography or creative business by leaning into those unique qualities. I hope you can see a little more clearly now, how your introverted nature in sales is a massive asset if your goal is to book higher paying clients.
Sales is just a skill. No one is born knowing how to be a good salesperson. It’s a learned skill. If you take the time to work on these things I mentioned and really lean into them, it can be a huge selling asset for you.
For example, not wanting to be loud and put yourselves out there can actually be a strength because, as an introvert, although quieter, you want to feel a genuine connection to the person that you're talking to, which really can be a huge bonus in your marketing strategy. Your aligned clients usually want to feel a genuine connection with you too.
If you’ve figured out your aligned client avatar correctly, then generally if you appreciate that kind of connection, your client more than likely appreciates it as much as you do. So not being really loud and actually taking the time to be a little bit quieter, and a lot more intentional will foster a really great relationship and a good trusting and genuine connection between you and your lead.
Coming back to our energy taps being easily depleted, it’s so important that we divide our time with our energy and our energy replacement in mind. This is by no means a weakness, it just comes down to productive energy management and fully embracing your unique approach.
Because my aligned coaching clients are also introverts ( like attracts like right ) a lot of times, I see that their schedules are not conducive to their introvertedness, and so this is when I see people really burning themselves out and often just wanting to throw in the towel when it's nothing to do with their skill set, it’s all do with simply not having their schedule work around their energy needs.
I come across it with clients who have been told they must be open for a sales conversation at all times. They always have to be selling. They always have to be following up. They have to be the fastest ones to respond back. To an introvert , all of these things being dictated are such heavy energy-sucking demands.
I'm here to tell you, that you do not have to do that to be successful in sales as an introvert, and you also do not have to have consults scheduled for every day of the week.
You will not lose the client if you have them wait 24 hours before you get on the call, 2 days is fine. I've had clients who have waited as long as two weeks to get on a call with me because that's just what my schedule allowed, and they still booked with me because they wanted to book with me.
If you’re an introvert in the photography or creative business and offer high-end experiences, you can totally schedule your schedule to be conducive to your energy needs. that's okay!
So really look at how you're spending your energy in your sales process, how you choose to engage in your active sales process, and how you can best support your high-end clients within this active sales process by coming to them with the most energy that you can.
To be an active and deep listener and to get yourself out of your own thoughts and into providing the best service to your clients, does take a lot of energy, especially when you're new to these concepts because it's a whole lot of thought redirection, which takes a lot of energy. Our brain uses the most energy out of anything in our entire bodies and so really think about it. If you're trying to do all those other things that just aren’t you and your energy makeup, ie endless video calls, super fast responses just to be the fastest for fear of losing the sale, etc you’re already going to feel depleted by the time you get into that active sales conversation.
How are you showing up for those clients? Are they getting the best out of you?
If they're not getting the best of you and you’ve been losing sales, this might be the reason why. If you aren't coming with your best energy tap, because you’ve been running around doing all those other things you were taught needed to happen, then these clients might question whether you’re genuine or indeed really interested. This is so far from the truth, you’re merely exhausted before you really begin. If you're an introvert and just not engaging as much as you’d like, because you don't have the right energy to engage, they could perceive it the wrong way.
Sales success for introverts lies in not shying away from those unique skills of getting into deep conversations versus that small talk ( that’s so not us ) that I mentioned earlier. High-end sales success is emotional, and getting into a good, deep conversation with someone is not only more fulfilling but also makes your leads feel more comfortable with you and really wanting to hire you. Deep connections build trust!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our ability to get into deep and intentional conversations with our aligned clients is an actual superpower because this is what makes a good sales conversation.
Lastly, genuine deep listening is another superpower for overcoming sales challenges.
As introverts, we listen a lot. We are observant. That is such a skill when it comes to sales and selling because sales is all about listening well to your leads and offering them a solution to the problems they have come to you with.
Deep listening is such a key piece of the sales process, as opposed to speaking. We are intentional with whom we are sharing our energy and the words we use. This is so great for sales. The more intentional you can be with the person you're selling to, always results in a win-win on both sides. It fosters that deep and genuine connection.
