As a business owner, you know making sales is essential for success. But navigating the process of connecting with your customers can be anything but straightforward. Sure, having a killer product or service helps, but what’s even more important than knowledge of your industry? Understanding who you’re selling to and tailoring your messages and offerings based on their individual personalities! Knowing how potential customers think and act will enable you not just to make the sale now—it will foster long-term relationships that bring in recurring business. Read on to discover why learning about customers’ personalities is critical—and how doing so can give you an edge over the competition.
Increase The “Know, Like, and Trust” Factor
Personality type tests have been around for a long time. There’s the Disc Analysis, there’s the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, and one I’ve looked at quite a bit and been trained on is called the BANK System; it’s tailored specifically for selling to personality types.
Basically, all these personality tests break people down into four different categories. Two reasons why this is important for sales are
- If you are one type and the person you are selling to is another type, and those types do not usually get along, it will be very hard to make the sale, don’t you think?
- If you understand what motivates your prospect and what kind of person they are, then you will be better at helping them take an action or make a sale.
The BANK Personality Profiling System
This system is simple in terms of how to tell which personality type your prospect is as well as your own personality type.
Red for Action
Salespeople are typically in this category. People in this category are kind of flashy; they like to have fun. It’s all about the image, nice cars, and doing things in kind of impulsive ways as well. Fun fact: This totally represents who I am.
They are also the best people to sell to because they’re action-takers. They don’t need a lot of information. They’ve already made up their minds before entering. They have done the research and know what they need. They are buyers, so it does not take much talking to get them to buy from you.
Blue for Blueprint
People who have high compliance and like to follow rules.
This means that they think it is important to do what you are supposed to do and to follow the rules. They also like stability, which means they like things that do not change much. Some jobs that would be good for people with this personality type are ones where you have to pay attention to details and follow a lot of procedures. Another thing that is important for this personality type is having titles and traditions.
Yellow for Nurturing
Nurturing is by far the largest category. “Connections with other people fuel our creativity and well-being”—an understanding appreciated by these specific people. Every day, they help to strengthen social ties by understanding the importance of relational dynamics. They like rapport-building because they want to get to know you and connect with you on a human level.
The professionals I work with, which are healthcare providers and fitness trainers, are generally very nurturing people.
Green for Knowledge
These are like engineers. They’re very into science, learning, and intelligence. Note that they like to be the smartest person in the room.
They devote a large portion of their resources to research and development. It’s all about staying ahead of the game; but more importantly, ensuring that accuracy is never compromised. With their commitment to attention to detail and their overall focus on the bigger picture, this personality type is truly setting the standards for innovation.
Mix and Match
What’s interesting is that red and green are like oil and water; they do not go well together.
If you’re the salesperson and you’re the action-taker, and then you’re talking to a knowledge-driven person, it’s going to be tough.
It’s going to be hard to get a Green Knowledge person to close right away. They need to have all of the information; they need to know the details. On the other hand, if you’re a “big-picture action taker,” you don’t like to talk a lot about all the details.
As you’re selling to them, if you skip over details, they’re not going to trust you. So it’s very important to go through all the details and give them the results of your research. You’ll know when you run across a knowledgeable person in a sales situation very quickly because they’re the ones that are going to say, “Well, tell me a little bit more about that,” or, “I really need to think about it” (the biggest objection you’re going to get with knowledge folks.)
For people who like to Nurture, you will want to spend time building a relationship with them. They think relationships are more important than anything else. If your program has a community aspect, such as a Facebook group or a club, they will like it because it is about being with other people. These folks are a pretty easy group to work with because when you build the relationship, they’ll take the action.
For the Blueprint group, you have to go through all the rules and steps and be very precise with them. And it can also help if you show that you’re good at following and giving directions.
If you’re selling a program, you really want to walk them through the process because they’re going to really enjoy it. They will feel like you are speaking their language.
If you’re selling to the Red, the action takers, it is going to be a super easy sale. It’s all about the fun, the image. They love new things as well. They are big picture action takers, so don’t go too far into the details; they will NOT like that!.
A quick story
This is about Red and a Green not mixing well.
I had an employee who was fully Green and I’m Red. Meetings were often a challenge, as our views didn’t always line up. He likes all the details, and I love the big picture and will say, “I don’t want to go into all the details; just figure it out.”
And it was very hard.
After an enlightening training session, our understanding of one another improved drastically. Consequently, we created a strong professional relationship that allowed us to collaborate effectively as colleagues.
This goes with sales as well.
In business, and in sales especially, we often talk about the “know, like, and trust” factors. These three factors are critical to closing the sale and keeping customers coming back for more. When you know your customer’s personality type, you can use specific language and strategies tailored to their needs.
By understanding these basics of human psychology, you can adjust your sales methods accordingly and be that much closer to success. If you want help increasing your close rate and deepening relationships with your customers, schedule an impact call today. We would love to discuss how we can help you better understand your target market and create messaging that resonates.
Explore the potential of this opportunity to change your techniques and strategies. There’s always something new to learn, so why not find out how you can make an impact? Get in touch with me today and book a free impact call – I’m here ready to answer all your questions.
