How Hubspot Research Redefines the Best Sales Personality

Sales leaders often ask whether extroverts or introverts make better salespeople, and Hubspot data offers a surprising answer that reshapes how you should hire, train, and coach a modern sales team.

Based on analysis of thousands of sales professionals, the original Hubspot study on personality and sales performance shows that the highest closers aren’t extreme extroverts or deep introverts. Instead, sales success clusters around a balanced middle type: the ambivert.

This article explains those findings in a practical way and shows you how to turn them into a step-by-step framework for hiring and coaching better reps.

What Hubspot Learned About Sales Personalities

The Hubspot research challenged one of the oldest beliefs in sales: that louder, highly social extroverts always outperform everyone else. To do that, the data compared three broad personality styles:

• Introverts
• Extroverts
• Ambiverts (a flexible mix of both)

Each style brings strengths:

• Introverts tend to listen carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and build quiet trust.
• Extroverts usually show high energy, confidence, and comfort driving conversations.
• Ambiverts switch naturally between listening and leading, reading the room as they go.

By tracking actual revenue performance, the Hubspot analysis found that moderate, flexible communicators significantly outperformed both extremes.

Key Insight From Hubspot: Ambiverts Win More Deals

The central insight from the Hubspot work is simple: ambiverts tend to close more sales because they combine the best traits of both introverts and extroverts while avoiding the downsides.

Here is why that matters in real selling situations:

• They talk enough to guide the buyer, but not so much that they steamroll the conversation.
• They listen enough to uncover real pain, but not so little that discovery feels scripted.
• They can adapt tone and pace to match each prospect’s style.

Instead of forcing introverts to “act extroverted” or rewarding only the loudest voices, the Hubspot perspective encourages leaders to value balance, empathy, and adaptability.

How to Use the Hubspot Findings in Your Hiring Process

To put the Hubspot research into practice, redesign your sales hiring process to look beyond stereotypes about personality. Focus on these steps:

Step 1: Define a Balanced Sales Profile With Hubspot Principles

Start by translating the Hubspot insights into a short, clear profile for your ideal sales hire. Emphasize behaviors instead of labels:

• Curious, open-ended questioning style
• Ability to listen longer than they speak when needed
• Comfort taking control to move buyers to next steps
• Willingness to adapt their approach by prospect type

Document this profile and use it to align recruiting, screening, and interview scoring.

Step 2: Design Interviews That Reflect Hubspot Research

Traditional interviews reward confidence and charm, which can bias you toward extreme extroverts. To stay aligned with the Hubspot findings, build interview steps that test for balance and adaptability:

1. Role-play a discovery call and score how well the candidate alternates between listening and leading.
2. Ask for examples of times they changed their communication style for different stakeholders.
3. Include written scenarios that require thoughtful, concise responses instead of quick talk.

Look for candidates who show both empathy and assertiveness rather than one dominant trait.

Step 3: Use Structured Scorecards Inspired by Hubspot Data

Create a scorecard so every interviewer evaluates the same behaviors. Example categories include:

• Questioning depth
• Active listening
• Conversation control
• Adaptability
• Emotional intelligence

This structured approach echoes the analytical spirit behind the Hubspot research and reduces bias toward any one personality stereotype.

Coaching Your Existing Team With Hubspot Insights

The Hubspot conclusions are just as powerful for coaching current reps as they are for hiring new ones. The objective is not to change someone’s core personality, but to help them build ambivert-like skills.

Step 4: Map Each Rep Against the Hubspot Ambivert Model

Work one-on-one with each salesperson to identify where they fall on the introvert–extrovert spectrum:

• Ask how they feel after a long day of calls (drained, energized, or neutral).
• Listen to call recordings to see whether they overtalk or underlead.
• Review win and loss calls to spot repeat patterns.

Share a simple visual (for example, a line from “mostly listening” to “mostly talking”) and mark where they tend to operate today.

Step 5: Create Targeted Micro-Goals Based on Hubspot Findings

Next, design coaching plans that nudge them toward balance:

• For strongly extroverted reps:
  • Goal: Ask at least three open-ended questions before pitching.
  • Practice: Pause three seconds after a prospect answers before replying.
• For strongly introverted reps:
  • Goal: Close every discovery call with a clear, confident next step.
  • Practice: Use a simple transition script to introduce the solution.

These targeted behaviors move each rep closer to the ambivert style highlighted by the Hubspot study.

Step 6: Reinforce Ambivert Behaviors With Call Reviews

Use regular call reviews to coach around the same themes reflected in the Hubspot work:

• Ratio of talking vs. listening
• Depth of discovery
• Clarity of next steps
• Matching tone to prospect energy

Score a few calls per week and share specific examples of where they demonstrated balanced communication and where they drifted to one extreme.

Applying Hubspot Principles to Your Sales Playbook

The ambivert advantage uncovered by Hubspot is easier to scale when your sales playbook encourages balanced behavior by design, not just through individual talent.

Step 7: Build Scripts That Encourage Balance

Adjust your scripts and templates so they naturally enforce the right rhythm:

• Open with a short agenda, not a long pitch.
• Insert clear question checkpoints before any demo segments.
• Include summary sections where reps reflect what they heard.
• End with two or three options for next steps.

These structures help every rep, regardless of personality, behave more like the high-performing ambiverts documented by Hubspot research.

Step 8: Align Sales Metrics With the Hubspot Model

If you only reward volume and aggressiveness, you risk drifting back to an extrovert-only culture. Instead, pair outcome metrics with quality metrics, such as:

• Number of discovery questions asked per call
• Talk-to-listen ratio on key calls
• Percentage of calls with clear next steps
• Customer satisfaction or feedback scores post-sale

These balanced metrics reflect the nuanced view of sales success showcased in the Hubspot data.

Where to Go Next With Hubspot-Style Optimization

By rethinking hiring, coaching, and playbook design through the lens of the Hubspot findings, you can build a sales organization that values flexible communicators over stereotypes about extroverts and introverts.

If you want help applying data-driven frameworks, personalization, and AI to your sales and marketing systems, you can explore additional strategic support from Consultevo, a consulting partner focused on modern revenue operations.

The core message from the Hubspot research remains clear: your best salespeople are rarely the loudest or the quietest in the room. They are the ones who adapt, listen, lead, and meet buyers exactly where they are.

Need Help With Hubspot?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your Hubspot , work with ConsultEvo, a team who has a decade of Hubspot experience.

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