Feeling Personality Types in Sales: Profit without Feeling Like a Predator

What’s the most important thing in sales? Some might say prospecting – finding leads. Or converting those leads into sales. “Always be closing,” right? With those overarching priorities, is it any wonder that the world of sales sometimes seems predatory?

In some ways, sales is adversarial, with salespeople needing to overcome customer resistance to make a deal happen. But the application of psychological or emotional pressure can set off certain primal alarm bells (for good reason, as in some contexts, it can lead to truly disturbing places).

Personality types with the Feeling trait tend to be especially sensitive to such force, given or received. They typically gain an emotional reward from positive human interactions, so it’s not always easy for them to be adversarial. They’re often reluctant to put themselves before others, even in business contexts where it’s completely reasonable to do so.

Compared to Thinking personality types, Feeling personality types are 22 percentage points less likely to agree that profiting off of others can usually be justified, 33 points less likely to agree that it’s sometimes okay to step on others to get ahead in life, and 29 points more likely to say their actions are guided by how they benefit others. When it comes to the competitive world of sales, kinder, more sensitive personality types may lag.

I think that’s a darn shame. Effective salespeople can make lots of money, and I think it would be cool if personality types on the more empathetic end of the spectrum profited more from that quality.

So my goal today is to explore some strategies that can help Feeling personality types prosper in sales while staying in harmony with their values and personality traits. It’s possible to make bank, treat people honorably, and feel great about yourself. Let’s think about some ways you can do that.

Four Paths to Guilt-Free Sales Success

1. Be Choosy

If possible, you can be picky about what you sell and who you work for. With critical awareness and independent research, you can ensure the quality and value of what you’re selling. One advantage to this approach is that once you’ve truly proven those merits to yourself, you’ll be well equipped to win over skeptical customers. The trick is maintaining your objectivity when you research and decide – be careful what you believe in, especially if you have a financial incentive.

You’ll have to look beyond your motivations and the brand’s own claims, taking into consideration consumer reviews, labor practices, supply chain partners, etc. It’s not an easy task, and some job opportunities may not pass your moral muster. But if you clear those hurdles, you can throw yourself into your sales efforts fully and with a clear conscience, which gives you a special, sincere energy. Respecting yourself can give you a persuasive, magnetic confidence in what you’re doing.

2. Be an Ally

Another option is to align yourself with the customer’s interests as much as possible. This is far easier when you’re selling products from multiple companies. Take as examples a retailer who carries many brands or a broker for several lenders. Being able to honestly “shop around” and provide whatever matches your customer’s needs and interests best can feel a lot better than trying to force them down just one avenue.

This might occasionally lead to opportunities to hand off a customer to someone else who can better fulfill their needs. That kind of sales networking among like-minded people can yield long-term dividends when they repay the favor by sending leads your way. And in some cases, you may be able to negotiate some kind of finder’s fee. You might want to vet whoever you associate with, but you may find some gems.

3. Be an Activist

If you have excellent marketing and sales skills but feel too conflicted in conventional selling, consider putting your talent to alternate uses. Promoting an idea is similar to selling a product, and paid positions in fundraising or advocacy with organizations like nonprofits might be a good option for your personality type. Whether it’s a charity or political group, representing a cause you feel good about pays off in ways that go deeper than money.

It’s also a surprisingly wide field. Everybody is lobbying for something, so it may not be as hard as you think to find a cause you might want to join. Even government departments and private companies have public relations positions. What’s more, your promotional skills might set you above novices or volunteers, making it easier for you to stand out and earn recognition – and a real salary.

4. Be a Reformer

Some businesses face a downturn or customer backlash due to sloppy or unethical sales practices – often the product of short-term thinking, greed, or lack of strategic vision. That’s an opportunity to improve things profitably, if you’re bold enough. You can distinguish yourself with your own conduct and skills – if the existing culture doesn’t hamper you too much.

You can also muster your ambition and make a big move, if you can show that your sales methods work better than the prevailing, failing ones. Ask for a raise and an opportunity to prove your worth, or go even bigger – a promotion with the authority to make changes. (Don’t go all Jerry Maguire and get yourself fired, though!) You might meet risk and resistance, but money talks to those in power. If you can get a bigger slice of the pie while improving results for everyone, do it.

The Feeling Trait Advantage

Building rapport and maintaining good relationships with customers is critical to success. You’ve probably got a CRM system and personalized communications using customer analytics. You try to exceed expectations to build loyalty and offer rewards to create referrals. These are all effective, established approaches.

But you might not be aware of just how far your Feeling trait can take you when it comes to one-on-one client interactions. Your personality can give you a superior ability to genuinely understand and bond with people – a powerful edge in sales.

Compared to Thinking personality types, Feeling types are 27 percentage points more likely to say they feel strongly connected to others and 20 points less likely to say the emotions of others often confuse them. That sounds to me like a good foundation to build rapport with all kinds of people.

If you’re a genuine, caring person – a hallmark of many Feeling personality types – you won’t have to fake prosocial behaviors to build rapport with customers. Some people are taken in by forced friendliness and some are really turned off by it (myself included). But by leaning into your own sincere sense of empathy, you’ll be able to reach virtually anyone. Even cynical consumers (like me) may sense – and be pulled to – your genuineness.

Accept That You Deserve Success

There are enough external barriers to success – you don’t need internal ones. Are you getting in your own way? Feeling personality types are 18 percentage points less likely than Thinking types to say financial success is an indicator of life success. I think that’s great, if it relieves you of materialistic pressure that makes you unhappy. But I’m worried that in some cases, something else is in play – guilt. Fear of success. So I want you to listen to me very carefully:

Success does not make you a bad person, and neither does failure – it’s okay to follow your dreams as you see fit.
Pursuing wealth does not make you greedy, because money does not determine a person’s worth.

If you take an ethical approach to earning wealth, why not rejoice in your success without guilt? Don’t talk yourself out of ambition on moral grounds – you can be both moral and ambitious. I believe that there’s no greater thing than trying to be your best self, including achieving what you want in life. Another argument for embracing success is that it puts you in a much better position to actively live the values that you claim.

Feeling personality types are 15 percentage points more likely than Thinking types to say they never pass up an opportunity to help someone, and they’re 29 points more likely to say it upsets them that they cannot help everyone. Well, wealth is power, and how you use it is up to you. Feel free to become wildly successful and donate heavily to a good cause. Or just be that person who takes amazing care of their friends and family – and yourself. It’s okay to care about you, just as you care about making the world a better place.

Heck, just by bringing your empathy and ethics to a sales role, you’ll ensure that there’s one less predatory salesperson out there stalking the rest of us. And for that, I thank you!