Comment by basseq | Hacker News Reader

Comment by basseq | Hacker News Reader

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I have met several good, introverted sales-people (and like to think I was one for a couple years). But most good salespeople are extroverts. The exception that proves the rule.

My definition of introvert is "drained by other people" (vs. extrovert as "energized by other people"). I'm not shy... I'm outgoing, friendly, good at shooting the shit. But I get home and I'm tired.

Extroverts, by virtue of that energy-boost, are more likely to get into a enjoy sales... and do what it takes to be a good salesperson (research, etc.). So that means that the average introvert in sales is a "better" salesperson than the average extrovert, because the extrovert population is so much larger/deeper. There's no such think as a low-performing introvert in sales, because that introvert wouldn't be in sales in the first place.

To say that introverts are drained and extroverts are charged by interactions with people doesn't seem right to me.

It feels like saying "Power lifters are energized by weight lifting; frail people are drained by weight lifting."

Interacting with people (like lifting weights) is just work. People who are good at it make it look easy. People who are bad at it get tucker'd out.

I'll offer two theories:

1) Introverts may have a higher default level of arousal, so that social situations overstimulate them and make them tired. In this case extroverts would be the opposite, i.e. their default arousal is lower, so they seek social situations to raise their arousal level.

2) Introverts process social situations more deeply, and therefore expend more energy in the same social situation than an extrovert would.

> But most good salespeople are extroverts.

That's mostly implied simply from "most salespeople are extroverts". And that comes from a culture that assumes pushy selling culture actually works. Confirmation and survivor bias.

Exactly. In fact, you'll seem to meet only extroverts, because half of them are introverts pretending to be extroverts, because society tells them they're otherwise worthless (to varying degrees, but it's always there... in the West, anyway, particularly North America)

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