Understanding how your prospects and clients make decisions is the key to increasing your effectiveness in relating to people. When people feel heard and understood they are more willing to listen to what yo have to say and trust you have their best interest at heart.
Recognizing what type of personality you’re dealing with could quickly and easily double your sales by allowing you to customize your presentation accordingly. Your powers of observation and a few key questions will immediately tell you which of the four basic personalities you’re talking to.
Learning how each personality makes decisions is like money in your bank account. If your client consists of a couple or a group, understanding the Personality Matrix within the group allows you to determine what the power relationship is in a matter of minutes.
Four Decision Making Styles
The Personality Matrix is comprised of four basic personality styles called Driver, Analytical, Promoter and Amiable. Drivers are self-assured and make decisions quickly. They want to get to the point and say yes or no and be done with it. You’ll most often ask a Driver to buy much quicker than any other style. Remember, bottom line results are their deciding factor.
Here’s the short course:
Drivers know exactly what they want and easily say yes when they find it. They don’t want to hear about all the options and everything the product or your service will do. They will ask questions and when you’ve answered them, ask them to buy. Drivers appear to be difficult clients because they want to control your presentation, but if you give them information the way they best receive it, they will be the easiest to get to yes.
Analyticals want details. Stay on your written material until you have answered all their questions and have them totally involved. Analyticals are interested in saving time and money. They will say yes when you have satisfied their need for logic.
If you ask them if this makes sense and they say yes, the physical product demonstration is a formality. Quickly show the product/service to confirm what you’ve told them in your written presentation and ask them to buy. Analyticals value their time just as much as the Drivers, so be aware of how you use it. The easiest way to talk yourself out of getting to yes is to waste their time.
Promoters see this as a game; they love the excitement. They go along with the presentation and appear to be an easy yes. But they’re playing with you. To really get to yes, get the promoter to stop watching the process and start listening to what you’re saying about the product. Promoters want to know how you got your job instead of what the product will do for them.
If you can keep their mind on the product, they love to buy. They come to your presentation sure they aren’t going to buy. They just want to see what you have to offer and play with you. Promoters want to be a part of a happy group. Emphasize any social opportunities that come with your product. Let them talk about all their accomplishments and you are listening your way to yes. The more impressed you are the better. Introduce them to a person higher up in your company. They love to impress people.
Amiables take a long time to get to yes because they don’t trust their own intuition. They need a lot of reinforcement. Tell Amiables stories about how people just like them have gotten involved and how happy they are they did. They are the most likely to have to think about it. Amiables love to shop, so you will have to convince them their shopping for this product ends with you.
Unless you make it easy, decisions are just too difficult to make quickly. You need to be their rock. They will depend on you for leadership and guidance. Tell them you think they should say yes now. In their minds this takes the responsibility off their shoulders and they feel comfortable. Trust is most important to this group.
The way you ask each personality to buy is a highly individualized strategy. This is where you have to be most aware of who you are dealing with. Without having fully experienced the YES System Personality Matrix, these closing statements may seem simplistic, but it can be this straightforward. I’ve personally closed sales conversations this way for over 25 years very successfully.
• Asking a Driver to buy can be as simple as an assumptive, “Would you like to use Visa or MasterCard?” or, “How do you want the name to appear?”
• With a Promoter it can also be very simple. You can say something like, “This is a great deal, isn’t it?” as you fill out the paperwork.
• Analyticals and Amiables want an extensive review of everything you’ve covered before you ask them to buy. This takes patience and time. Guide them to yes by saying; “Based on what you’ve told me here today, I think you should go ahead with this.” If you’ve done a good job gaining trust and establishing credibility this can be all it takes.
A Final Note
You’ll find a full description of the YES System Personality Matrix in “Getting to YES Without Selling, The YES System” and “Getting to YES Without Selling, The Quick Start Formula 2.0” Just click on the Success Tools tab above.
Until next week, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just comment on this post here.
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With 32 years in sales and marketing, along with 38 years studying human behavior, Lynn Pierce, “The Success Architect,” mentors entrepreneurs and information marketers to reach the pinnacle of success. Tell Lynn what the life of your dreams looks like, and she’ll create the blueprints to get you there, along with the sales system to fund it. Author of, “Breakthrough to Success; 19 Keys to Mastering Every Area of Your Life”, Lynn Pierce’s personal growth and business acceleration systems help her clients get three times the results in half the time with one tenth of the effort. Claim your free special report, “What Do You Stand For; A No B.S. Guide to Creating Your Own Personal Manifesto” at http://LynnPierce.com
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