Your Natural Approach To Selling Is Not Effective
In the last 15 years I have conducted hundreds of sales training workshops and I have noticed a trend. Your natural approach may not be effective. Allow me to elaborate.
When I deliver programs for retailers, two topics that are always discussed are the initial salutation and asking for the sale. When we discuss the salutation, we end up talking about the appropriate amount of time to wait before acknowledging a customer. Many people reckon that people should be greeted shortly after they enter the store while others believe that customers should be agreed space and time to acclimatize themselves before being “pounced on”. When we discuss the substance of asking for the sale, it always surprises me how many people are loath to take this step because they feel it is pushy and intrusive.
Inevitably, when we drill down I learn that sales reps who prefer to wait to greet new customers want this approach used when they are the customer. Similarly, sales associates who are hesitant about asking for the sale don’t like being place in the position of making that choice when they are in the buying mode.
I also see similar behaviour when I conduct sales training workshops for B2B sales reps.
I can boil this down to one concept; people sell the same way that they buy. And much of this relates to their individual personality.
Type “A” personalities are direct in their approach and they expect to be treated the same way. They don’t waste time on pleasantries and often skim over details and information.
People with an Expressive personality style prefer an indirect approach and have a more hard time asking a prospect for a commitment.
Analytical personalities need time to make a choice and will seldom, if ever, question a prospect for their business. As a replacement for, they will give their contact person lots of detail and wait for them to make a choice.
Let’s explore this in a bit more detail.
If you are a Type “A” personality and you are selling to an Expressive, there is a excellent opportunity that your direct nature and approach will offend your prospect and you will not be successful moving the sales process forward.
If you are an Expressive person and you are selling to an Analytical personality, you will probably talk too much and not provide your prospect with sufficient particular details. As a result, you will not be taken seriously and will lose the sale.
Finally, if you are an Analytical person, your tendency is give people too much information. When you use this approach with a Type “A” or Expressive, you will end up dull them and cause them to quickly lose interest.
Selling the way YOU like to buy is a recipe for failure.
The key is to be able to adapt your approach for each person you encounter. Do some homework BEFORE your meeting to determine what type of individual you are selling to and modify your approach accordingly. This will help you better connect with the other person and increase your odds of success.