Everyone fits into one of four major personality types. Although it may be narrow-minded to put every person into one of four categories, it is beneficial to be aware of these types for the sake of purchasing items. Each type of this process has different needs.
Do you know how to adapt your sales pitch to different personality types? Your website text, marketing materials, and sales team should target each personality type separately to be the most successful. If you are trying to decide whether to emphasize your benefits over others who are offering the same service, you may want to consider going for the competition angle.
Or should you try the exciting angle instead? The approach you take with your customers depends on their personality. If you want to convince different types of sales personalities to buy, you need to have a selling personality.
This article will tell you about how to sell to different kinds of people, based on their personality type.
The Competitive Personality
Also known as the Type-A personality. Competitors should beware of those who are in it to win it at all costs and get a thrill from crushing them. To them, life is all about survival of the fittest and they’re always working hard to make sure they’re better than everyone else.
Those with competitive personalities generally like to take charge of situations and feel the need to be seen as a leader. Many successful people have a competitive personality, including Donald Trump, Michael Phelps, and Mark Zuckerberg. This type of personality is often characterized by a desire to be the best and a drive to win. They are renowned for their dedication and determined work ethic that has helped them build successful careers.
Each of these successful individuals has had to be very focused and driven in order to achieve their goals. Donald Trump, as a businessman, Michael Phelps, as an Olympic swimmer, and Mark Zuckerberg, as the creator of Facebook, have all had to be goal-oriented personality types to get where they are today.
Signs of a Competitive Personality:
People with competitive personalities are often independent, straightforward, and assertive. They are deadline-driven and change-oriented.
They may come across as impatient or high-strung, and may seem rushed when they communicate with you. This may be because they are anxious to get their point across.
How to Sell to Them:
Appeal to that inner competitor. Make sure your potential customers are aware of how your service can help them improve their situation.
Excite them with stories about having 85% of the market share and crushing small competitors. Frame your service as a competitive advantage, such as “Our service is fast and practical, and we pride ourselves on staying ahead of the competition”.
The Spontaneous Personality
It’s also known as a Type-B personality. They people live for the fun of the project. While they don’t put overwhelming importance on winning, they do get a thrill from doing something that captures their interest.
Signs of a Spontaneous Personality:
People with spontaneous personalities are creative and enthusiastic. They are typically extroverts who like being around others.
Schedules and routines are not usually enjoyed by people who are spontaneous and easy-going. They enjoy exaggeration and may speak in hyperboles.
How to Sell to Them:
Get excited. Is it going to be fun to work together and be great in the end?
Speak in exclamation points! Also, leave out the mundane details.
They focus on the big picture and neglect the details. They focus on what the benefits are of your service, or how you can help them interact with others or gain public recognition.
They tend to act quickly when they find something new that interests them, but also tend to lose interest in it just as quickly. You’ve got to be immediately compelling and exciting. If you’re not interesting, they’ll go to someone who is more fun.
Assertive
Assertive personality types are goal-oriented, decisive, and competitive. They care more about results than personal relationships. If you do what you say you’re going to do, you’ll have a good business relationship. Assertives care deeply about the bottom line.
People with assertive personality types are quick to take charge and slow to relinquish control. They want quick information so they can make a decision and continue.
Assertive Personality Traits:
An assertive person is someone who speaks in declarative sentences and asks few questions. If you notice that the person you’re talking to says things like, “I’m looking for a new sedan,” rather than, “Can you show me your sedans?” you’re probably talking to someone with an assertive personality type.
The volume of their voice is louder than the average person, and they use confident body language that is animated.
How to sell to them:
- Professionalism is always important, but especially so when it comes to Assertives. Always make sure you’re prepared for a meeting with an assertive personality type. If you don’t know the answer to a question, let them know you’ll follow up instead of trying to give a halfway correct answer.
- Assertives appreciate efficiency. Don’t waste their time repeating facts or building up to your point — cut to the chase.
- Emphasize how you will solve their problems.
- Steer clear of personal opinions and testimonials. If you’re citing a successful customer, talk about the ROI they saw.
- Since Assertives aren’t great listeners, keep your statements short and to the point.
Amiable
People with amiable personality types emphasize personal relationships and being able to trust their business partners. They like the excitement of new challenges. Amiables tend to be very enthusiastic about finding creative or unexpected solutions, but they may not do a lot of research before meeting with you. You can help them make the purchase.
Unlike Assertives, Amiables don’t make decisions quickly. They want to create a good relationship with the people they work with and will usually ask for help or approval from several team members. Expect a longer sales process than usual.
Amiable Personality Traits:
Amiables try to get to know you as a person rather than just in your professional role. They will be friendly, calm, and patient during meetings. Conversations with Amiables are generally laid-back and informal.
How to sell to them:
- Pitch a vision. Help them visualize the outcomes their business could achieve with the help of your product or service.
- Take time to build rapport. Amiables will need to feel safe in their relationship with you before they’ll be comfortable doing business with you.
- Bring up examples of similar clients who have successfully worked with you. Flesh out the story — why did client X come to you? Details like these are convincing for Amiables.
- Take the role of an expert and walk them through the decision-making process. Instead of overwhelming an amiable with information, help them through the process and act as an advisor.
- Give them personal guarantees to calm their anxieties and make them likelier to buy.
Expressive
This personality type is called an “expressive” or “humanist” because they value personal relationships.
Individuals who express themselves tend to make decisions based on their emotions. They are often more concerned with the well-being of others as opposed to themselves. The expressive personality type enjoys knowing how their decisions affect those around them, whether it be employees or customers. Although they may put up a front of being people-pleasers, Expressives actually have strong personalities and use them to get others to agree with their convictions.
Expressives tend to be creative, outgoing, spontaneous, and rely heavily on their intuition. They value mutual respect, loyalty, and friendship. Do not make careless promises to Expressives – going back on a deal could be the end of your relationship.
Expressive Personality Traits:
Expressives tend to be very enthusiastic and colorful. Like Amiables, Expressives want to bond with you and feel connected on a personal level. However, like Assertives, Expressives are sure of their beliefs and speak more in statements rather than questions.
How to sell to them:
- Present case studies. Expressives want to be reassured that you’re looking out for them, and what better way to prove your track record than to show stories of how your business made an impact on other people’s lives?
- Emphasize an ongoing relationship. If your company offers exceptional customer service or maintains long-term partnerships with its clients, now is the time to shout it from the rooftops.
- Don’t focus too much on facts and figures. Data is important, but an expressive will ultimately want to know how their buying decision affects their business on a human level.
- Summarize along the way.
Analytic
If you’re the type of person who loves data, facts, and figures, you probably have an analytical personality. Practical and unsentimental, they are more interested in a straightforward presentation of the facts than in a flowery pitch. Brace yourself for questions that require a lot of detail, and don’t be alarmed if it feels like the person you’re meeting with already knows you. They will have looked into you and your business ahead of time.
Analytics take their time to make decisions, but they always meet their deadlines. They want to be sure they are making the best decision and won’t just choose something quickly. They tend to be more logical and cautious than other personality types, but they usually stick to their decisions once they make them.
Analytic Personality Traits:
Analytics are less expressive than other personality types. They are more interested in facts than emotions, and are not likely to want to get to know you on a personal level. In conversation, Analytics are serious, direct, and formal. Although they might not use a lot of hand gestures and body language when they are in meetings, you can be confident that they are listening carefully to what is being said.
How to sell to them:
- Never rush an Analytic. Be prepared for a longer selling process, as Analytics will take as much time as they need to gather all the facts they feel are necessary to make a decision.
- Assume they are prepared and have done their research. This doesn’t mean you should skip over introductory information, but you can expect to spend less time talking basic features, and more discussing custom, personalized solutions for their business.
- Avoid making high-level claims. Always provide data when you make an assertion, or risk losing credibility. Overhyping your product might make Analytics suspicious that you’re using flowery language to mask flaws.
- Provide as much detailed information as possible. Instead of saying “Our product drives growth for many companies,” say, “Our product increased sales in 13 Fortune 500 companies by 25% or more year-over-year.” You can offer more information than they ask for without risking them becoming overwhelmed — in fact, they’ll probably welcome it.
- Don’t try to force a relationship that’s not there. Analytics might become annoyed by those they feel are overly flattering or obsequious.
Most prospects will have a mix of personality types and will not fit neatly into one category. After you become familiar with the different types of personalities, you can adjust your sales technique to fit any situation.
