Tips For Selling To Different Personality Types
New sales people often ask their sales training tutor, "Why do I need to learn more than one sales approach?" or "Why does my approach work well with one client, but leaves the next disinterested in my product?" The answer given to such questions by the tutor is: "Its to do with your customers personality!" Selling, they will be told, is the art of persuasion; it involves the sales person persuading their potential customer that what they are offering meets the customers needs best. Every customer will be different, that is why nothing works with every customer all of the time. To be effective your sales talk must address different customers in different ways. That is you will have to tailor your sales talk to best fit the style of the customer in front of you. An important part of your job as a professional in sales is to identify what type of customer you are selling to.
The FACE model, as taught on sales training programmes, helps us to understand the different types of customer we come across. The model analyses a persons personality using two interacting scales of how assertive and how emotional they are. This gives rise to the four basic personality types described by the FACE model.
We all spend between 65% and 72% using one particular style and this is known as our natural style. However, no one is exclusively just one personality type and we all use the different FACE styles from time to time.
The first personality type is the Friendly personality. These types are emotional and responsive people who are essentially led by the needs of others and are people orientated. You could imagine that selling to this type of person would be easy. Theyre friendly and open, so whats the problem? The problem is that they would like to get on with and say yes to everyone, and will therefore delay any decision making process that could cause upset with a supplier. So what can be done? Its vital to get to know this person really well. Building rapport is essential. The effects of change should be minimised, particularly if people are involved. Place emphasis on the benifits and do not be tempted to try to rush them. Their attitude is one of "Reassure me that this is right for my colleagues and me".
The second personality type is the Analytical personality. Such people are described as unemotional and responsive. This type of personality is extremely wary of sales people - they cant see that any value is being added by the sales function. As you may expect, to sell to them requires the provision of a great deal of information - therefore, preparation is critical. Like the Friendly type, they decide slowly, so allow them time for consideration. Dont exaggerate - that will only arouse suspicion. Be prepared to present the downside of your offer as the Analytical considers nothing to be perfect. Remain cool, calm and factual. Present proofs if possible.
The third type of personality is the unemotional and assertive type known as the Commander. Commanders focus on time, results and action. Selling to the Commander requires preparation. They will regard any shortfall in a presentation as sloppiness and will decide against it very quickly. Time is of the essence - If they can not see where the meeting is going, they are likely to end it. The sales person must stress the result for them and their organisation - profits first, then people. Its also important here that the Commander views the sales person as a firm, decisive, business partner - any hint of uncertainty will tip the scales against them.
Finally we have the Extroverts, defined as both emotional and assertive they are gregarious people who love to be at the centre of whatevers going on. These people can be great fun to call on but dont let them eat up too much of your time. Keep your sales talk light and short because details bore them. They may need more attention than the other types, so you should keep in touch by phone, email or letter. Sell to extroverts by stressing the benefits of a new, different approach. But whatever you do, do be enthusiastic!
The real benefit of sales training that includes the FACE model is that by knowing how each prospect or customer thinks and acts we can alter our sales approach and so become more effective sales professionals.
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Richard Stone is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited that specialises in running management and sales training courses to improve business performance. Richard provides consultancy advice for numerous world leading companies.
