Personality In Sales: 8 Ways to Show Your Personality to Close Deals

In case you haven't heard, your sales prospects are people too!

While they may sometimes feel like obscure robots on the opposite end of a Zoom call, they are real humans with the same feelings and emotions as you.

Because prospects are humans who crave genuine human connections, having your personality show throughout the sales process is essential for success!  

Think about it… B2B business connections can last for months, if not YEARS.  If you were in your prospect’s shoes, wouldn’t you want to work with a sales rep who showed at least a little bit of personality?  More than that, wouldn’t you want to be able to connect with them beyond just the surface?

Moreover, showing an authentic personality in sales helps build up the kinds of genuine human connections that lead to solid business relationships.  And, as if you already didn’t know, relationships are a central tenet of success in sales. 

Also, we don't talk about it enough, but your sales approach should be fun!  You are not a sales machine turning out deals like a robot!  

If you feel like your prospects aren’t enjoying the process, then you might want to try slipping more personality into your approach!

In this guide we're sharing 8 ways that you can show off your personality in sales!  And, NO... We're not going to tell you to "just be yourself".  We are sharing tactical ways that you can interject your personality into every sales encounter.

If you were a prospect, wouldn’t you want a person, and not a robot, to be your sales rep?

To have a successful sales career, you need more than just sales skills!  You need to know how to show off your true self.  Here’s how to do it:

The Difference Between Personality Type & Personality Traits

This guide is all about showing off your personality type, not your personality traits!

And, don't get things twisted... There is a difference between the two!

There are many different personality types in existence.  Some would say that there are 16 of them, due to the prominence of the infamous Myers-Briggs personality test.  Nonetheless, there isn't an official number.

A personality type is the way in which someone sees the world and how they express their personality traits.  For example, extroverts and introverts are two personality types. 

Personality traits describe something about a person.  It is synonymous with characteristics or qualities.  For example, honesty and confidence are both personality traits.

Just because two people have different personality types doesn’t mean that they can’t share the same personality traits.  For example, both introverts and extroverts can be confident, but they express it in different ways.

It’s important to note again that your personality type is shown by how you do things.  The how factor can significantly affect the way that you make people feel!  It has the ability to change the energy in a room.

On the other hand, personality traits are often shown through your actions.  For example, you can show that you are honest by, well, being honest!

While showing off your best personality traits is also important, keep in mind that this article is all about how to show off your personality type!

What Is the Role of Personality In Sales?

There are two keys roles of interjecting personality in sales, including:

1. Building rapport
2. Enhancing your sales approach

The primary role of personality in sales is to create relationships!  While we already mentioned it before, it's worth mentioning again here.

If you're a regular on The Business Growth Insider, you already know that building solid, trusting relationships is one of the central tenants of success in sales.

If you don't have good relationships with prospects, don't expect to make a lot of deals or get clients to stick around for the long-term.

When you show off your genuine personality, the whole mood in the room changes.  Prospects will literally feel a positive shift!  Specifically, they will get a feeling that they can trust you more.

And, the more the prospect trusts you, the stronger the relationship can get!

Second, when you show off your true personality, it enhances your entire sales approach.  Because, when you are you, you naturally engage to create a more organic and exciting sales process.

On the flip side, if you try to portray some other personality type that isn’t yours, it will reflect in a disingenuous process. 

Moreover, when you act as your true self, you naturally enhance the entire sale!  The more that you act as yourself, the more you lean in, and the more successful you become.

If you and your sales team want to reach the heights of sales success, everyone needs to portray their authentic selves.

What Personality Is Best for Sales?

There is no single best personality type for sales!

Some research shows that extroverts tend to perform better, partially because they have an easier time initiating conversations and connecting with others.  However, that research isn't conclusive.

Instead of asking what personality is best, what you should be asking is how you can best express your own personality!

And, most importantly, you shouldn't try to change your personality in order to fit what you think is best for sales.  If you do, it will most likely come across as disingenuous, and do the opposite of helping you close more deals.

What Are the Qualities of a Good Salesperson?

As we mentioned above, there is no single best personality type for sales.  While some types might have some natural advantages over others, that doesn't mean that you need to be one type or another in order to reach success.

However, if you want to be successful in sales, you must have specific personality traits or qualities.

You don't need to express them in the same way as everyone else, but you need to have them, nonetheless!

Some personality traits of top salespeople include:

1. Curiosity
2. Persistence
3. Authenticity
4. Humility
5. Assertiveness
6. Conscientiousness
7. Honesty

These are just a few personality traits of top salespeople, but they are also some of the most important.

With that said, it doesn't matter what your personality type is.  BUT, it does matter what personality traits or qualities you have!

Here Are 8 Ways You Can Show Your Personality In Sales to Close Deals

This guide is all about tactical ways to show off your personality type!  And, you'll be happy to know that by 'tactical', none of our tips include things like 'just be yourself'.

Instead, each of these 8 tactics is some action you can take or a mindset shift that will resultantly show off your personality.

Regardless of what your personality type is, each of these 8 tactics will work for you!

1. Curate Your Perfect Profile

The most successful salespeople get the sales process started before it even starts!

By that, we mean that they find ways to put themselves out there for prospects to see who they are before the first sales meeting even begins.

The primary way they do that is by creating an authentic social media profile, particularly a LinkedIn profile.  

On their profile, they find ways to interject their personality, including:

1. Adding personal content - photos, videos, status updates, etc.
2. Sharing and commenting on previous client success stories
3. Sending personalized messages to their prospects

Of all the tactics to show off your personality in sales, this one is perhaps the most obvious.  But, it is obvious for a reason... because it is effective!

2. Cold Call Instead of Cold Email

How many times have you sent someone a text message and they completely misinterpreted the way in which you were trying to say something?  Then, they put a label on you based on that misinterpreted message?

If you're like most people, then this scenario sounds very familiar!

Let's all learn a sales-related lesson from this all-to-common scene: If you want prospects to get the right idea about who you are, it's a much better idea to call them instead of email or message them!

While you shouldn't completely ditch emails and messages, understand that it is far easier for a prospect to misinterpret your personality when your words are in typing.

On the flip side, a prospect is far more likely to understand who you are when you are actually talking to them.  Even if they can't see you on the other line, your tone and other factors will better convey who you are!

Great salespeople opt for calls rather than emails, messages, or texts when their goal is to give prospects a glimpse of their persona.

3. Use Fitting Body Language

We've said it once and we will say it many times over again: Sales is less about what you say, and more about how you say it.  Communication is about way more than just words spoken!

You can have the best sales pitches and scripts in the world, but if your way of presenting them makes the prospects feel some negative emotion, your odds of making the sale or small.

Using body language is a great tactic for improving your communication skills.  Not only that, but it's a great way of shedding light on your personality.

When making sales pitches, you should try to use natural body language that reflects your personality.  Hand gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions are just a few of the ways that you can use body language.

People with different personality types will obviously use different body language.  Don't try to conform to a different personality type's body language!

For example, if you consider yourself more introverted but use extremely extroverted body language, it's not going to reflect well on your personality. 

Therefore, use fitting body language that complements who you truly are!  Just because someone online says you should do this, and this, and this with your body language doesn't mean you should!

Bonus tip: When you are on sales calls over the phone without video, you should still try and animate yourself using body language!  Whether you notice it or not, your body language will cause synchronous changes in your tone of voice, which the prospect will pick up on!

4. Interject Humor Into Sales Pitches

Have you ever watched a Saturday Night Live or comedic skit in which they created humor out of a completely non-humorous situation?

For example, they reenacted a political scene and somehow were able to make it pure comedy gold.

How could something as serious as politics merge well with comedy?

The truth is, humor can actually help reveal a lot of truth about a situation.

Think about it: How many times has there been a serious situation in which you actually found yourself, in a way, laughing about it?

In a similar way, you can use your own version of humor to reveal truths about who you are.  In fact, what you make comedy out of and how you make it is an effective strategy to show off your personality!

Therefore, interject your own kind of humor into the sales process.  For example, find ways to make light out of the serious situation (when appropriate of course) during your sales pitches.

The key with humor is to make sure that you only use it to draw out your personality, not overshadow it!

Humor can turn your bland sales pitches into riveting sales performances.  

Remember, there is no need to take things too seriously... prospects are people too!  They don't want to be bored to death by the same old PowerPoint presentation.  Add some light to the sales environment by interjecting your own kind of humor.

5. Work on Your Listening Skills

One way to show off who you really are is to say little to nothing at all!  Instead of talking, try listening!

Being a great listener can surprisingly reveal a lot about your personality.

While you don't talk, your attentiveness can show off a lot about your persona.

Prospects won't hear what you have to say, but they will pick up on your attentive energy!

Personality isn't all about what you say!  It's also about how you react to situations.  Top sales reps work on their listening skills as a way of revealing their personality through unspoken language.

As a little added bonus, being a great listener also enables you to draw out as much information about prospects as possible.  The more information you have on them, the better you can help solve their pain points!

6. Don’t Over-Memorize Sales Pitches

Have you ever heard the saying "A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned."?

If not, the wisdom being it is a great way to approach sales pitches!  Instead of working so hard to perfect, memorize, and prepare for pitches, leave some room for fate.

The more you prepare for a pitch, the more robotic you tend to become.  And, being robotic is in no way a good tactic for showing off your personality. 

Top sales professionals leave a little bit of room in their pitches for flexibility.  Rather than going crazy to memorize every single word of the script, they only memorize the general outline.  That way, they leave room in the pitch to portray their persona (and have some fun). 

With that said, you too should only memorize the outline of your script.  That way, you leave enough room for spontaneity.  With more spontaneity, more windows open to allow your personality to shine through!

Additionally, when your speech comes across as more spontaneous, prospects will see you as more likable.  And, the more they like you, the greater the odds are that they move forward in the sales cycle.

7. Leave Personalized Thank You Notes

The best salespeople don't stop let the end of a sales encounter cut off them showing their personality.  Instead, they go the extra mile by finding ways to personally connect with their clients beyond pitches.

One of the most effective ways they do that is by sending their prospects and clients personalized thank you notes. 

In a world where everything is online, it can be really exciting to receive a physical letter or card in the mail.  

Prospects tap into that energy by writing personal notes to their prospects.  Even if the sale didn't turn out, they didn't hesitate to send a note.

And, they don't just write a cookie-cutter "thank you, goodbye" message.  Instead, they take the time to authentically express their feelings in writing.  It's just another way to show off who they are!

Not only does a personalized note show off your personality, but it also shows that you genuinely care about the receivers.  

It takes a significantly less amount of time and investment to send a basic email or message.

Prospects know that, so they appreciate it when they get something physical.  It's proof of investment in them and their relationship.

8. Don’t Focus on Pleasing Clients

If you know some information that would help a prospect solve their problem and you don't say it, then you are in the wrong!

Even if you believe saying it will momentarily offend or frustrate them, you still need to tell the truth.

And, if they do get offended or frustrated, it won't last for long.  Later down the road, they will thank you for letting them know what they needed to hear.

With that said, the focus of your sales cycle CANNOT be about pleasing clients.  Instead, it should be about telling them what they need to hear (in good taste) in order to most effectively help solve their problem.

In short: You need to be straight-up with prospects.

Being straight-up with them will shine a bright light on your personality.  Not only will it show that you are worthy of their trust, but it opens the door for you to reveal more about your true persona.

For example, let's say that you confront one of your prospects about a clear issue with their current solution.  They go silent because they are taken back by your correction.  That moment of silence is your opportunity to jump in and kindly tell them what they need to hear.  In the process, they will pick up a lot about your personality.

If you are ever nervous about telling your prospect the truth about a situation, don't forget that effective communication is less about what you say, and more about how you say it!

The bottom line: You should never be so focused on pleasing clients that you don't tell them what they need to hear.  If you are all about pleasing them, then you should go back and consider whether or not they really are a good fit for you in the first place.

The Bottom Line on Using Your Personality for Sales Success

Setting goals isn't easy when it comes to bringing out your personality.  Personality is a hard thing to measure, so it isn’t worth setting strategic goals around it.

However, one indicator that you are putting your true personality out there is if you feel you are having fun throughout the sales process!

Therefore, take account as to whether or not you are enjoying the process!  The more you put your personality out there, the more fun you should be having.

Also, some sales reps struggle with finding a balance between letting their personality out and maintaining control over the sales pitch.  

If that sounds like you, investing in a sales training like Deal Flow Accelerator will help you strike that balance between being your genuine self and creating the kind of sales cycle that closes the most deals!