I have a salesperson that needs to improve his sales technique. After much discussion with his manager, he does not lack technical sales skills (overcoming objections, product positioning, closing, etc.), but he does not have a personality that allows him to connect with prospects and build rapport during the first few minutes of conversation. It's very robotic, but it is the same way he his all the time, not just with customers.
Basically, after much discussion, role plays, and coaching, his manager and I thought training on how to connect with people - something that would force him out of his shell - may be helpful. I've looked, but I can't find anything to that effect.
If you have any suggestions (seminars, research showing this isn't something training can fix, other possible solutions we haven't thought of, etc.), PLEASE help...I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Unfortunately, you are stuck with a salesman who needs to find another job. A person's personality cannot be changed except by these two methods (which are highly unlikely to happen): 1) some sort of very traumatic shock could (but is not guaranteed to) result in a modification of some personality traits; and/or 2) extensive psychotherapy - if he is fairly young (older is much more difficult and often impossible). And by extensive, I mean years.

I doubt this person needs or wants to be "fixed." Trying to do so may very well do him actual harm and make him worse. Instead, help him find a job that he can excel at just the way he is. Not everyone is cut out to be a salesperson.

A salesperson who cannot connect on a person to person level with a prospective customer isn't truly good at what you described as "technical" sales skills because selling is also an art, a talent, and that ability to connect can't be "trained". Not all sales jobs require overly dynamic personalities - he may just be better suited to a different type of selling.

You can't really close, prevent objections, position a product, etc. without knowing the customer and you can't know the customer if you don't connect. The only thing you can do is let him know what's missing, but if he's flat, he's flat. Only he can change himself if he chooses to do so. It's odd that an introvert (that's what it sounds like) chose sales as a career.

Please do not attempt to "train" him to change his personality. It doesn't work that way.

M-Catalano,

You are to be commended for your efforts to support this individual's development. You are hardly "stuck" with someone who needs to go, nor is your salesperson in need of a mental health intervention.

Your salesperson is simply wired up differently .

Personality is about a variety of preferences we each possess, all of which conspire to influence our behavior. But like handedness (left and right)...we may have a preference for one or the other...but it does not mean we cannot learn to write with the other. Because one hand or the other is not our "preferred" way of writing we don't use it, it is rusty, comes across as awkward.

The transition can be messy (maybe even unreadable) for a while, but eventually a person can learn to write just as well with the other hand.

Your challenge is the same all leaders have...to recognize and appreciate these differences, then jointly chart a path forward. We all have our drug of choice when it comes to tools for supporting this conversation. Mine is the MBTI.

Find a qualified MBTI practitioner...have them work with your salesperson. A wonderful resource to consider is Using TYPE in Selling.

If this is a person you want to hold on to, and a person who wants to work toward improving their own performance, it remains a worthy venture.

To assume that one's personality can be changed and to encourage someone in that direction is a scary thing. People can grow and learn better coping mechanisms and should be encouraged to do so, but personality cannot be changed that simply. The OP gave a very good description of this person and hit upon a crucial element. The fact that the behavior is the same all the time and "not just with customers" signals a core personality trait that is very ingrained - highly unlikely to ever change over the course of a lifetime. This can hardly be equated with being right or left handed or passed off as "simply wired up differently."

The challenge for leaders as well as those in workplace performance jobs is to recognize what their own limitations - and qualifications - are. For someone to rush in and try to rescue this salesperson and assume that he can be "changed" is a very serious matter.

Leaders need to recognize the strengths in each employee and help them move in that direction - never presume to "fix" the person or encourage them to change something as fundmental as their own core personality traits.

In any case, those of us in the training and development world should never recommend that anyone's personality be changed, or especially to presume that it is possible to do so in the first place. We should recognize the difference between personality change and "individual development." The MBTI should never be used to try to change a person's core personality traits. The very thought of it makes me cringe. That would be a gross misuse of the instrument.