How to sell to different personality types | Pareto

There are many skills, techniques and tricks to making YOU a great salesperson. But what about the person you’re selling to? Clients and customers can come from a diverse range of backgrounds and they all have their own approaches to the buying process. Below we’ve outlined four of the most common personality types and how to adapt your selling techniques and expectations.

Analytic As the title might suggest, analytic types generally rely on logic in making their buying choices. These are not people who are going to make a quick purchase so be prepared for a lengthy buying process. The best approach? Be prepared to deliver all the information possible to secure a sale with someone analytical and being knowledgeable on your competitors and how you outrank them will definitely be to your advantage. What you shouldn’t do is make any claims you can’t back up with data as an analytic buyer will definitely do their own research. What probably won’t work with an analytic is also pushing the relationship factor too hard; because of their logical process they are unlikely to be much influenced by their rapport with you. Be helpful, provide all the information you can and be patient.

Amiable In great contrast to analytic types, amiable personalities are far more likely to make a purchase based on their rapport with a seller. Take your time to build a relationship with this type and you could have a faithful new customer on your books. How best to sell to an amiable buyer? Beyond putting in your best rapport building effort, amiable types are less likely to have done much research of their own so will need guiding through the buying process. They could be quite open minded to creative solutions to their needs so coupled with their appreciation of relationship building, they present an excellent opportunity to any seller.

Assertive Assertive is a personality type many sellers should already be familiar with; they’re confident, decisive and competitive. They’re also quite unlikely to be patient in their buying so you’ll need to answer their queries quickly and concisely. How to sell to an assertive type? This is another situation where your refined relationship building skills aren’t going to have much of an impact. Like an analytic without patience, the assertive buyer likes quick answers and always puts their bottom line first. Be ready to demonstrate the value of your product or solution quickly and concisely. If you’re persuasive and helpful, this might be the quickest type of sales you make.

Expressive If there’s a word you’d associate with an expressive type it’s ‘conscientious’. Expressive types care deeply about their work, their colleagues and their beliefs. Like an amiable type, relationship building is key. The best approach? Always be honest with an expressive person; building trust is extremely important and if you fail to deliver something you promise then your sales process will crumble. Expressive types also like reassurance so a great tool here are your case studies and the promise of customer service. Referring to a future business relationship and interactions will add to the trust they have in you as a seller.