Introverted Indie Hackers...How do you handle client interactions?

Hey Prakash, congrats on the progress you've already made with your product, that is really cool and exciting.

I definitely struggle with feeling awkward and conscious in many social interactions, I remember getting so nervous and bombing my first phone interview when I couldn't solve a simple programming problem (I ended up interviewing again getting a job at that company).

The only way I've been able to overcome such obstacles, is through repetition and practice. Some examples:

• After I bombed that phone interview, I told myself I wouldn't let that happen again. I bought "Crack the Coding Interview" and studied every week for 6 months and then interviewed again at that same company and found I was much less nervous, I felt confident (in my programming skills at least haha)

• I recently had a booth for my games at a large gaming convention, Gen Con. I was so nervous the night before I barely slept. I felt so awkward standing at my booth trying to "bother" people passing by. The first hour of the convention I wasn't able to get a single person to check out the booth. By the 2nd day of the convention I had talked to hundreds of people, I now had a well-oiled pitch to people walking by. I was able to grab their attention with a simple question ("Do you like XYZ similar game?"), which also guided me on which route to take to pitch my games to them. I ended up making my first $1k of indie revenue that weekend!

• I started doing career coaching on Fiverr this year, and I had no idea what I was really doing in the beginning. I just tried to be as helpful as possible with my early clients. After about 3 clients, I became much more confident and had a clear strategy. The next 20+ were a lot easier!

The takeaway is that I've always felt so nervous and unsure of myself in the beginning, but just by trying and not giving up, I have always found that it got easier and I got better. Something that really helps me is if I feel bad about how an attempt went, I ask myself: "What could I do better next time?". By focusing on improving and not dwelling on spiraling negative thoughts, I am able to make progress a lot more efficiently.

Best of luck, Prakash!

I saw a lot of people advising you to automate / write emails as much as possible to avoid the sales call.

My advice is the complete opposite.

I've done hundreds of sales call with ScrapingBee as an introvert. At the beginning I was scared and it put me outside of my comfort zone.

But the more I did it, the more I learned to use my introvert personality as a superpower: LISTEN!

Sales is more about listening to your customer's needs, genuine curiosity about the customer's problems rather than cold pitching your product.

And I think as an introvert you're naturally better at this than extroverted personalities.

The more you'll do it, the more comfortable you will get!

Hey Prakash.

Agree with the other comments.

Try to structure the engagement a bit differently. Maybe look at faqs, and pre-sales material that you can share ahead of the meeting.

When I started doing sales, I used a standard deck of slides and a structured presentation. This approach always went wrong because the customer wanted to jump straight to their need and got agitated by my fancy presentation. These days I take a presentation with me but before I launch into it I normally ask what the customer would like to see. If I understand their need I then go straight to key slides. If they want to see the presentation from start to finish they will tell me.

Don't be scared to change it up...

That's really tough when it comes to winning a new client. If I were you, I'd handle as much of the initial interactions as possible via email, prior to meeting with them. Answer questions, get info about their needs, talk about pricing, etc. etc. ahead of time. Then all the tough discussions are out of the way and you'll (hopefully) feel more prepared.

It's also worth noting that most people have a specific rhythm that can be easily identified. I would start documenting when you feel the most social — is it in the morning, afternoon, after a cup of coffee, etc. — and try to schedule your more extraverted tasks accordingly.

After you have the client, I think the most important thing to remember is that you're in charge of how you want to work. That means if you don't want to have meetings, then you don't have meetings. Or if you're ok with meetings but you don't want to turn on your video, then don't turn on your video. Ultimately, what your client wants is your best work. And only you know what will get them your best work. If a meeting will exhaust you so that you can't give them what they need, then they don't actually want that.

I try to use async communication as much as possible (email, social networks, community forums, etc). I also try to keep conversations about the other person (eg asking them lots of questions and listening). I found the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking very helpful

I wouldn't say I'm extremely introverted or vice versa, but it's very important for me to never forget to put self-care first.

Small talk, sales, and generally being good with people can be skills you can pick up and become good at.

But if you're not your best self and don't have the mental capacity to handle another conversation — it won't go good.

I know it can be hard as a founder to be able to choose your own schedule sometimes (especially, when new business is at stake), but think of it this way:

if you say yes to every meeting you don't have a mental capacity to go to, it's a client lost and unlikely to return. If you take your time and go with your pace, giving yourself enough space and time to recharge and reflect on things that went wrong the last time, you will be able to go a long way. If you drain yourself with a failure after failure that only demotivates you — you'll just burn out.

So, TLDR:

1. Give yourself enough time to recharge
2. Reflect on things you could do better next time
3. When you ready — go into the new meeting and show what you've learned
4. Repeat :)

good luck and don't give up!

Well, the harsh truth is there is no such a thing as an introvert businessman.

I usually dont talk over the phone with clients. I try to use email as much as possible.

But, there are situation when I cant avoid that.

Only 2 things helped me so far:

1. About 10 years ago I enrolled in an online anxiety management program. It was some kind of trial or research and I got into it for free. They were trying to see if their program is good. It was excellent. When I started, I was asked to choose a situation that provokes me the most anxiety. I selected phone calls. Every week I was given exercises and instructions on how to get to the next level. In most case, it involved doing the thing that caused stress, while following some instructions to help keep anxiety away during the phone call. After enough exercise my phone calls were almost anxiety free. Starting from refusing to call people that I didnt knew before, to calling anyone with very low stress. I felt so liberated. In time, some of the anxiety came back, mostly during times when I didnt practice, but when I returned to work, the anxiety usually get away after first few calls.

2. Volunteer for a political campaign, or other campaign or NGO work that requires calling people. I got to make 100 phone calls a day, to unknown people, including those who get angry because you called them, or those who were at important events, bad phone connection, mostly awkward situations. There cant be any anxiety left after such training.

I think that what I have described above is called neuroplasticity.

Hey Prakash. First, you should know, there are a lot of pros that come with being introverted. Introverts tend to be better listeners, more reflective, and less co-dependent, for example, all of which can be really helpful in business. So, don't feel discouraged, be proud to be introverted!

My suggestion during client calls would be to put yourself in their shoes. What do you think they're likely to be thinking? It's unlikely to be terrible in any event...and what is the worst possible outcome from the call? You literally have nothing to lose from a client call. Writing the main points you want to cover throughout the call on a piece of paper might help boost your confidence. Also, I know from a former housemate of mine who worked in sales that his team was taught to draft an "objections sheet" - i.e. they think of all the possible objections the potential client could come up with for not buying their product, and they prepare rebuttals for each of them. This way, if, during the call, the potential client objects to something, you're prepared with an answer.

I've had some awkward customer calls. Especially cold calls! It really feels weird interrupting someone.

It might be easier if you just talk to your customers to understand their problems. Instead of trying to get them to do something for you (sign up to your app).

PS: I had a look at your testimonials and they seem to be made up.

Hey Prakash, a fellow introvert here. I have been through what you are facing. What I have done is prepared multiple pitches for talking to different kinds of customer personas who can use our product. I try to tell them the story about my product based on what those personas would like to listen to and understand.

Of course, this is hard work. But it pays off big time. First I did this for handling job interviews, now I am doing this for talking to prospective customers.

Sometimes you can use what you think as your weakness and your strength.

I haven't spoken to 95% of our B2B customers on the phone or video call, its all been done via email. Many people prefer this approach, I know I do.

Harness your introversion to get the most out of what you are good at, and dip your toes into the water to get over your fear.
Become the best copywriter in the world to reduce the number of sales calls you have to do to zero.

Easy for me to say, but ask for feedback from your calls, it will help you create a template for the calls, making it less daunting.

First, there's nothing wrong with being introverted, and nor does being introverted stop you from building a successful business.

The reason you have to pitch clients on the phone is because your marketing isn't doing the convincing for you.

If you have the right marketing and messaging, then you won't need to convince customers on the phone that they need your product. They will convince themselves.

The best method to use for potential customers to convince themselves that they need your solution is what I call The BLUNT Method - companies like Apple, HubSpot, CrossFit and Salesforce have all used it to create massive growth and let customers come to them. You can check out the book I wrote on the topic right here - https://bit.ly/3EQSlNE

I am an introvert myself, mostly I do it on chat and then once I feel comfortable with them the calling part becomes very easy.

So I'd suggest maybe try to get to know them via chat first, break the ice and then move to call.

Works for me :)

Do you need to be in a call with a client? Can't you automate your sales process?

1. As many already said, try to automate it as much as possible

2. As an introvert myself, I spent the first years of building my design business trying to avoid calls. What I found later on is that the more I did, the easier it was. This sounds corny, but to this day I am at least trying to hop on calls weekly just to keep up the momentum, and when I don't have any I at least try shooting a YT video (that took ages to get used to it as well).

Now I am trying to build a design business where I won't need to hop on (many) calls, so I'm probably reverting back to my older view on this, but I'm glad I overcame this with a lot of practice - wish you all the best for you biz endeavours.