We’ll close the week with an article from ManageSmarter.com titled Building Client Relationships: Use Sales Psychology to Create More Lifetime Clients. The thrust of the article is how to use DISC styles when selling. This tool is one of four assessments we incorporate into our hiring process.
The author is correct – knowing your prospect or customer’s style should be part of any saalesperson’s repetoire. This isn’t the Jedi mind trick but rather a focus on clear communication. If a sales rep doesn’t know how to sell, understanding a prospect’s preferred style will only make the salesperson clearer in their failure.
However, an effective salesperson who learns and uses the styles becomes far better at qualifying and closing.
Some good tips from the article:
How to Put This Knowledge into Action During Two Key Stages of the Sales Process
Opening the call:
€¢ Customer behavior type D: Be clear, specific, brief, and to the point.
€¢ Customer behavior type I: Be friendly. Listen for both facts and feelings. Make time for relating and socializing.
€¢ Customer behavior type S: Be genuinely sincere. Create a non-threatening environment for them.
€¢ Customer behavior type C: Ask lots of questions and be patient while they answer in minute detail.
Obtaining commitment:
€¢ Customer behavior type D: Briefly highlight their key options and ask for the order assertively.
€¢ Customer behavior type I: Inspire them to action. Keep the close relaxed and friendly.
€¢ Customer behavior type S: Detail how they can take practical action and confirm without pushing or rushing them.
€¢ Customer behavior type C: Create a scheduled approach to implementing action with step-by-step timetables. Point out guarantees.