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Who are you selling to?

When you are selling your product or service the old adage “Treat others as you would like to be treated” doesn’t work!

You must “Treat others as they like to be treated” and you will experience far greater success and conversion rates.

Accurately determining individual personalities has often proven far more effective than simply pushing your own features & benefits. Of course you have to do both, but knowing how to pitch your approach can save you hours of heartache and stress.

A good tool to identify personality types and modify sales strategies to accommodate them is “DISC”. This goes on the assumption that the primary "goal" and "fear" of different personalities will affect any sales process regardless of the product or service sold.

A brief outline of these DISC personalities is provided below. For those who have experience of Elite Edge’s presentations on this subject, the personality types you relate DISC to are given in brackets.

DOMINATOR (Driver)

Goal: Wants results and acts decisively.

Fear: Losing control.

INFLUENCER (Expressive)

Goal: Enjoys people and enthusiasm.

Fear: Rejection or loss of approval.

STEADY (Amiable)

Goal: Needs security and acts systematically.

Fear: Sudden change and losing security.

CONSCIENTIOUS (Analytical)

Goal: Needs accuracy and acts cautiously.

Fear: Criticism of performance - lack of standards is unacceptable.

ONLY WHEN YOU’VE IDENTIFIED YOUR PROSPECT’S PERSONALITY SHOULD YOU BEGIN DESIGNING YOUR SELLING STRATEGY.

Here are a few pointers on the buying styles of these personalities. Overlap of personalities exists in almost everyone and the dominant style often depends on the situation they are in. However, one style should be more evident than the others in the sales process. Certain personality types get on very well, others barely tolerate each other!

DOMINATOR Buying Style

They want to know what the product or service does for THEM.

Selling Strategy

Give them the hard COLD facts and potential results of using the product or service. You also need to give them the perception of power to manage their sense of self importance.

INFLUENCER Buying Style

They want to know who is using the product or service and are very concerned about what others say about it.

Selling Strategy

Product or service case studies, client testimonials are effective as are on-site visits to current customers if appropriate.

STEADY Buying Style

They want to know how the product or service will stabilise their condition.

Selling Strategy

Emphasise support provided by your firm for this product or service and reassure them that you are going to be around to help when necessary.

CONSCIENTIOUS Buying Style

They want to know why the product or service is a logical investment for them.

Selling Strategy

Show proven results. Show them statistics. Give them an ROI. They need to be given a proven track record of the product or your service performance.