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Selling the Way Your Customers Want to Buy

Dear Colleagues,

Frequently, I relate the story of a woman who called my office a few years ago to ask for a bid on renovations to her home. I will call her Ms. Pam for now. As I engaged Ms. Pam in some preliminary questioning about the project, it became immediately noticeable that her style of communication was quite different from mine. She spoke in a very low volume with a slow, methodical pace and there was not much variation in the pitch of her voice.

Ms. Pam proceeded to describe her intentions about the project, and each word that she spoke seemed to take hours to come out of her mouth. As she meticulously explained every idea for her project I felt as though I might be the subject of a devious plot to hypnotize me over the phone.

Have you ever had to deal with someone that seemed completely different from you?

I will tell you the end result of that phone call at the end of this letter.

Fortunately, my parental influence had conditioned me to be courteous and considerate of others. So, I listened to Ms. Pam and continued to ask leading questions, all the while establishing trust and confidence with Ms. Pam.

As the days moved along, Ms. Pam began to disclose details of the competition's bid. I took this as a sign of her confidence and trust in our communication.

Every time you encounter a new prospect or customer, you are challenged with the opportunity to sell to them the way they want to buy. What exactly does that mean?

Play along with me here. Think of the last time that you bought a car. You have specific needs, processes and decisions that you made based on your particular personality style. These processes are real to you. In your mind, your way is the correct way to make a decision. In fact, I would imagine that at some level you believe that your way is the ONLY way.

There is nothing wrong with that. I prefer folks who have a determination in their style. It is easier to sell to someone who knows what they want (and don't want) than it is to sell to a "wishy-washy" prospect.

If you are going to have selling success, you must tap into what is real to your prospect. In other words, their decision making process must become your reality as well, in order to make the sale.

And you want to know something interesting?

Your decision making process is based on your personality style. Every person on this planet has a personality style. Every person has a dominant way of making decisions, of interacting with other people and a specific way of getting things done.

For example, Ms. Pam was very interested in the people she would be dealing with during her project. Her concerns tended to be more relationship oriented and her questions were frequently prefaced with "Who would be doing" rather than "What will we do to get the job done?"

Some folks would rather want to know "How" the project is going to get done. Others tend to focus on "Why" certain aspects of their project would happen the way they do. And still others want to know "Who" is involved in the project.

When you are selling to prospects, your antennae needs to be up and rotating 100 percent of the time. These little subtle clues can mean the difference in making a sale and losing a sale.

Also, take note of what information seems important to your prospect. Are they interested in the "big picture" or do they want the "nitty-gritty" details?

And how about this? How will your client react to a stressful situation while you are working with them? Their personality style dictates the way they handle stress and that can have an impact on your stress.

Here are four primary personality styles and a couple of hints that you can use to sell to your prospect the way they want to buy.

1. An Analyzer wants detailed information. Use graphs, charts, and statistics to back up what you say. Use proven sources to support your proposals. They will appreciate your diligence and thoroughness.

2. A Director wants the bottom line result. Get to the point and tell them what they want to know. Otherwise, they will feel like you are wasting their time. Quickly tell them the exact result they can expect.

3. The Agreeable person will appreciate the personal stories about your product and since they are very people oriented, they will want to know how your product or service benefits people. Emphasize this in your presentation and you will win a customer.

4. The Expressive wants the big picture. What is the overview of the project? Don't go to the details too early or they will mentally "check out". Create a mental vision of the future for them and they will listen to the details later.

What would happen if you knew how to persuade others to buy your ideas, products and services just by learning their personality style?

Could you sell more projects because your prospect felt like you were tapping into their reality? The answer is a resounding YES!!! Anytime you deepen the rapport connection between you and your prospect, you will sell much more.

I want to make a special offer to you to help you increase your sales.

Each of these personality styles and the way they process information is discussed in a Special Report that I am offering through my website.

This special Report is called, "How to Sell The Way Your Customers Want To Buy - Persuading others to buy your ideas, products and services." Click Here to Preview and order this special report.

Nationally recognized personality style expert and psychotherapist, Kay Christopher, has produced this report and for a short time only, it is being offered exclusively to Contractor Of Choice Newsletter readers.

By special arrangement with Ms. Christopher, you can discover the secrets of selling the way your customer wants to be sold. Here is the great thing. You will only invest $12 for this 23 page Special Report. Simply click here to review the table of contents of the Special Report.

Once you order the Special Report, you will immediately receive a PDF file to print out and read today. You don't have to wait for it to come in the mail.

That means that you can read it today and sell more deals tomorrow. I truly hope you take advantage of this special offer. I guarantee that it will make a difference in the way you connect with your prospects and it will help you to increase your sales and customer satisfaction.

Now, back to Ms. Pam. I never met Ms. Pam in person until the day she was to sign the contract. That's right I sold a $35,000 project over the phone. I simply listened, matched her voice tonality and tapped into her way of making decisions. Fortunately, I understood the power of personality styles and it resulted in a tidy little profitable job.

I want you to be highly successful in your selling and getting to know the different personality styles you are dealing with will be a huge tool in your sales arsenal.

Until next time, take great care of yourself and your loved ones.

May 25, 2002

Paul Montelongo

"America's Construction Industry Motivator"

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