Can you predict what your sales are going to be next month? You could if you knew who you were selling to and intentionally crafted and matched your sales presentation to that personality.

Recently, I went to an electronics store to purchase a new TV. This was one of the higher end franchises and I’ve always been impressed with the number of sales people available and the quality of their products.

The salesman that greeted me was very knowledgeable. He filled me with information; refresh rates, pixels per square inch, everything from the TV’s resolution rates to its interest rate if I chose to buy it.

But I chose not to buy the TV — at least not that day and not at that store. You might say that I wasn’t ready to buy a TV and you might be right. But I’m going to say that he wasn’t “selling to” me. He probably didn’t know and had never been trained in the different types of people and the different types of what we call in marketing “Purchase Preferences” and “Gratification Modes”. If he had known, research shows that he would have had an 80% better chance of getting the sale. Because he didn’t know, he hardly had any chance at all, and if he had sold me that day, it would have been sheer luck.

If you don’t know who you are selling to, who your sales people are selling to, you can’t even begin to grow your business intentionally and consistently. Your sales are based on luck, or possibly being in the right place at the right time.

In the simplest of terms, there are 3 different personality types. Almost every individual has a little of all of these three types, but everyone has a predominance of one. The three types are; INTERPERSONAL, OBJECTIVE and INNER FOCUSED.

• The INTERPERSONAL personality is very social and outgoing. They are the ones who will engage with a salesperson and they almost always want the “latest and greatest”. They are interested in cutting edge technology and are often willing to pay a little more to get it. While they might not be willing to admit it, they are interested in the impression it, (whatever it is that they are buying), will make on others when others see it and the reputation they gain from that experience.
• OBJECTIVE people are the ones who would rather touch your website than engage with a sales person. They are the ones who really mean it when they say; “send me some information”. They are going to read and analyze the information. They get their gratification from researching the data to be sure they’ve made the right decision. That they’re going to get the best value.
• The INNER FOCUSED person is going to need a little of both. They’ll want to speak to a salesperson and they are going to want to receive some information. They’re going to want to make sure the decision is the best for them. That both the product they are buying and the experience of the purchase feels good to them. They’re going to want some clear assurance that all of their needs will be met, now and in the future, and they’re going to want to take some time to really think about it.

If management at the electronics store had paid attention to this, if they had had a system, for example, to determine the personality type of each new customer who came in the door, if they had matched a sales presentation to the personality type, then each sales person’s rate of conversion would have increased dramatically. Knowing this, the store would have had a better understanding of how many people they needed to get into the showroom and in front of a salesperson to be able to make enough sales to meet their budget. They wouldn’t have attempted to sell an interpersonal person using an objective sales presentation. And the result is always, more sales with less effort. Do your market research well and everything that follows gets easier and easier.