How to Sell To an “S” Personality – DiSC in Sales

Rob 0:11
Hey, everybody, welcome back. Oh, and hey, there’s lane lane. How you doing?

Lane 0:15
I’m doing great, Rob, how you doing?

Rob 0:16
I’m doing? Well. I know, we’re back to talk about a couple things that relate to sales. But let’s find out what you want to talk about today. Particularly, what do you got going on over there?

Lane 0:29
Well, there’s not much what I need to talk to you about. need to know about this prospect I was talking I was talking to, it’s got to be three months ago, they still haven’t made a decision. Wow, they keep telling me their team is working on deciding and they want to work on it some more. But why are they taking so long? And what can I do about this?

Rob 0:51
Oh, that’s interesting. That could actually be a personality type. That could also be a couple of other things going on. So I do have some questions for you. Because it sounds like it could be an S personality. But I’m not really sure. So maybe we can talk about that in a little bit. You wonder why I’m slowing down. Well, we can talk about that, too. So by the way, if you’re new here, I’m Rob. And I’m Lane. And today we’re going to be talking about selling to an S personality. So let’s get started.

V/O 1:27
You’re listening to the slow beach podcast, a podcast about selling less and closing more.

Rob 1:34
All right, before we get too far, let me just start out by saying that the S personality style, those individuals are really good people, they’re there. They’re tough to deal with. And sales, though, I gotta tell you, they’re probably the one that frustrates me the most. So for you to feel like what’s going on, that’s probably not unusual. They’re ones that are very difficult to deal with in sales in terms of knowing where you are, knowing what you need to do next.

And unfortunately, I don’t know if everybody knows this, or number, you know, this. They are the most common personality when it comes to the disc personalities. So yeah, so learning how to deal with them. Now it’s Listen, it’s, it’s the most common but not by much. So the thing to know is, is that if you’re going to learn the style, you’ll help yourself with sales, because you’ll won’t be so frustrated all the time, you’ll you’ll understand what’s going on to you so so today we’re going to learn about what a disc personality profile is, or what that means, what an S personality is, and how to talk to them, like how do you talk to them in general?

And then how do you talk to them related to sales and what you need to do? So I have some questions for you lane. When you started your conversation with them? I don’t know, it’s been three months, I don’t know if you’ll remember all the details. But when you started your conversation, what were they like?Shorten with AI

Lane 2:55
Well, the conversation went fine. They started off with, you know, non business II stuff. But I got into asking some some questions about specifics of what they were trying to do what they were looking for. And you know, good answers. It just didn’t really go anywhere specific regarding making a decision followed up by email, and it just really doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Rob 3:15
Yeah, hard to tell a little bit from that whether or not the personality is totally it. But let me ask you a couple questions. Because I think when it comes right down to it, sometimes when a sale doesn’t go anywhere, it’s because they’re really not interested. And sometimes the reason it’s not going anywhere is because they’re an S personality, and they can’t make decisions quickly. And that’s kind of the way it is.

So one of the questions I would probably ask is, did they involve any other individuals in the conversation? In other words, that they refer to anybody else that, you know, I want to check with so and so because or did they say stuff? Like, I need to understand this? So let me go ask another person. And let me get back with you on that kind of, Did they say anything, stuff like that?Shorten with AI

Lane 3:53
Not in the initial conversation, but definitely the follow up emails, they they referenced talking with other other people. Okay.

Rob 4:00
All right. So let’s assume that they’re an ass in this at this point. And here’s why I would do that. First of all, because it’s the most common personality, I tend to whenever I deal with a new prospect or a new potential client, I would deal with them as if they’re an asset, because that’s the vast majority of the people that are out there. It’s not by a whole bunch, but it is enough to know that it’s a it’s odds are better that it’s an ass.

Sometimes when I hear people refer to us as they talk about them as kind of like, a little bit of a pushover, or really nice or they’re just really seem to want to be they want to be a pleaser, and last where they want to take care of somebody. That’s one of those elements that I think if that sounded like at all that individual that you spoke with, that may be a good indication that they’re an ass.Shorten with AI

Lane 4:48
So I don’t know if that fits. I think it does. Yeah.

Rob 4:50
Okay, so knowing some of that. Where do you want to start in this conversation here about talking about an app, what do you want to do anyone talk about

Lane 5:00
Well, for the benefit of someone who may not have heard some of our other episodes, why don’t we start with what is disc?

Rob 5:06
Alright, so let’s do that. I think that’s makes sense. So starting with what is disc, I think the easiest way to understand that is is almost everybody out there has one particular personality trait that is more prevalent than any of the other ones. And in disc, there’s primarily four.

One of them is called the D personality, which is more of a dominant style, personality. Another one is an I, which is the influencer style, the S is a what they call a steady person, supportive kind of a person, sometimes referred to them as a little bit of a submissive kind of person, although I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. I’ve seen that out there. And then the last one is the see, they’re more of a compliant type personality, which means they’d like to follow the rules, and they know where things are, and the lines are drawn.

So there’s a psychologist that came along who was in the industrial psychology world, and he recognized that these primary four traits were out there, they’re more of a behavioral assessment. So it’s how you behave as an individual. And the thing to know is that everybody has usually one that’s more dominant than the other, they usually have a second personality trait attached to themselves. And then they sometimes have a third even.

So you might have a high D personality with a secondary C, or you might have an S with a secondary C, or a secondary D, there’s different ways you can combine almost any two of these, two of the four letters any way you want. One can be more primary, the secondary, and then the tertiary one is very hard to find out or figure out unless you take the test, that kind of gives you a little high level of what disc profile and disk behavior profile means.

It’s, it’s really about high level, what that person is like and how they function and operate in life. The other thing to note too, though, is that everybody kind of operates one way in one setting, and they may adjust in another setting. So for example, I have one personality trait that stands above the others, by a longshot like head and shoulders, that doesn’t mean that I can’t behave in another format, and another another profile.

So for example, in real life, you would know me as one personality. But when I used to work in another world, I used to have another personality that would come out all the time, because there was a couple of reasons why, but it would come out. And that would be the way that it was and I had that secondary profile that just isn’t there all the time as a normal, everyday life. But when I’m put in a situation that secondary comes out,Shorten with AI

Lane 7:29
so you’re sitting you’re usually a big D. But in your in the off times when you’re doing your Instagram thing. You’re an AI you’re an influencer.

Rob 7:39
Yeah, no, that’s not at all You’re way off. So the other thing that’s really interesting, I think, with disc profile is is that the D personality and the C personality are more taskers, they’re more tasking, Dewey people kind of a thing. They want to get stuff done. And they honestly when it comes right down to it, really don’t care about who they offend or irritate are getting their way. They just get stuff done.

And then they’re the s and the I personality are really about other people and trying to make sure that they don’t step on other people’s toes. And they’re really nice. And yeah, they might get stuff done, too. So that’s why it’s, yeah, they might it so that’s why it’s helpful. If you’re a person that has the eye or the style, to have a secondary, that’s the D or the C because you will then be able to get stuff done.

If you are so heavy on the I. With a secondary S. You might not ever get anything done unless you have somebody do it for you sometimes or or vice versa. Because you’re more about the people. Now that doesn’t mean there’s jobs out there that you couldn’t do that would be valuable to have that type of personality, if that makes sense. So don’t think that if you just have an iOS personality, you’re never getting anything done. Because you probably do.

It’s just a matter of you have to recognize when it’s time to get stuff done. And when you when you don’t. So that kind of gives you a high level hope I did. Did that clear up a what disc is do you think to lane, I want to make sure that everybody and you get a good feel for what that is?Shorten with AI

Lane 9:03
Yeah, absolutely. But we’re talking about yesterday, so why don’t we narrow in a little bit on that?

Rob 9:07
All right. All right. So that makes sense. So let’s talk about some of the traits of an S personality. So what they look and sound like they and that’s kind of why when we open this up, I kind of slowed down a little bit because they tend to be very, very calm people. They’re very patient. And they they speak sometimes very slowly. They’re not the fastest speakers in the world. Lane. Have you ever been on the phone with somebody when they’re halfway through the sentence you want to go? I know what you’re gonna say, Can I just finish the sentence for you? Have you ever done that?

Lane 9:35
All the time, all the time.

Rob 9:37
They’re talking to you, well, they’ll come on that’s not true. So with when you’re dealing with something like that, they’re probably an S because they’re always more on that calm site. Now that doesn’t mean they’re not upset or, or they’re not emotionally connected. It doesn’t mean any of that. It just means you’re not going to see it. It’s probably there. It might be there behind the scenes. in their head, it’s there.

But it’s not coming out. And one of these that they’re really good at knowing being known for is they want to maintain peace, they will end by peace. I mean, they don’t want conflict. So they’re good listeners. They’re typically pleasers, although not all the way to the end of like, I have to take care of this, because but they are typically more of a pleasing type of person, more sympathetic, they’re very cooperative, that kind of thing.

Which is why they get to be a little bit frustrating in a sale, because as you’re talking to them, they’re gonna agree with you on everything. And you’re like, Yeah, we got a sale. And then when it comes right down to it, they’re going, No, we’re not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna have an answer. And you’re like, What just happened? So, yeah, so you have, that’s why there’s some steps you need to take in the sale process that we’ll get to that will be important, because if you don’t do these little steps along the way, they will, they will just tell you nice things, they will tell you what you want to hear.

And that’s not by any other reason, then they’re just wanting to be nice. They’re not trying to do it maliciously, or anything. It’s just, they’re nice people, they don’t want to, they don’t want to offend. And they’re not very competitive. It’s one of those things because they’re not very competitive. They tend to not like people on the opposite end. So who’s on the opposite end, the D personality.

So when we talked about the disc profile, if you google search the disc profile you and pull up images, you will see the D in the higher high upper right corner. And then the eyes are right below them in the lower right corner, the esses are in the lower left and the C is in the upper left. And so SS and DS because in the opposite corners typically don’t communicate well together. It’s not that they can’t, and they won’t, but they will not typically cooperate very well, or the S will cooperate and then be very angry at the other person all the time. And the other person will never know it. So that’s the best part.Shorten with AI

Lane 11:55
So this is not one of the instances where opposites attract?

Rob 11:59
Well, you know, honestly, when it comes right down to it, with the disc profile, opposites can attract, but they’re attracting for the wrong reasons. So Heidi might like it as because they’re kind of that pleasing personality, they’re kind of that person that gets along, and that’s what he wants, but the US is not gonna put up with that forever and ever, they may, but they’re not going to be happy. And that’s kind of the deal.

So yes, if you recognize that’s the communication style that you have, and the behavior style you have, it can work, but it’s gonna take you a little bit more work. Because I’m, I’m one and my wife has another, we’re on opposite ends. That’s one of those situations where it’s like, well butthead, sometimes. And we recognize that, hey, I’m this way. And she’s that way. Okay. Now we know when that comes up, we have to deal with it a different way. So.

But the nice part about us is when they’re on a team, they’re really loyal. And they’re really reliable. And they’re very predictable. And if you have two co workers that do not get along that as person can go in there and help them resolve it, they’ll figure it out. And they’ll sit down with those two, because it’s not about them. It’s about the other two and resolving that conflict, and it can help them to so they secretly are helping themselves but but really, in the end, it’s they want to resolve the conflict.

The other thing to know is that when you’re dealing with an S, it’s helpful to know what’s causing them to be an S. Because why would you be such a pleaser all the time? Or why would you be the one that’s trying to make conflict go away when conflict can be very good in a certain situation, right, or, in certain situations, it’s helpful to an organization to get them to be stronger and better. Typically, the reason that high S’s are high S’s is because they have this strong feeling that they’re going to lose stability or security in their lives.

So they want to feel very, very secure. They want to know that they’re not going to let people down. They want to know that their security in when who they are and where they are. Very, that they want to know that you appreciate them and that they are good in their own skin. And that that’s it like, they’re just they want that security piece to know that it’s there. So this is really to me important to know, when it comes to sales. Because if you don’t make them feel secure, they’re going to say, yes, yes, yes. Very nice. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that sounds good.

But they’re not secure. They’re just not going to go anywhere, you’re gonna think you they are. And that’s kind of what happens. Now, again, all the way through, you know, when I, when we talked about the D, when we talked about the I and the s and eventually the C, the thing to know is, these are the extremes. These are like level 100. Right?

This is what they’re like if, if you amplified whatever they are. So there’s subtle nuances that you’re gonna have to watch for. But if somebody’s being very agreeable, and like, yeah, that sounds nice. Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I want. Yeah. Everything you say is, yes, there’s a problem. And you need to start to dig into that and drive that home and figure out Alright, so why is that That okay with your Why do you think that’s a good idea?

Because if you don’t do that you’re gonna run into the Yes, yes, yes. And then what happened? The other thing to know is that they are very, very highly motivated by avoiding conflict. So when you ask that question, why do you think you have to come across as genuine? And you have to come across as, hey, I respect your opinion. And I’m really curious, well, how? How do you come to that conclusion? or Why do you feel that way? so that they know you’re not trying to question them, or make them feel like they’re their security or their their feeling of stability is on the on the line, they want that safety feeling.

So you have to kind of recognize that they’re loyal, that they’re willing to, you know, be there for you, and all that kind of stuff. So anything you do with it terms to management or sales, it’s really about how do we make sure that they understand that they’re secure, but you’re genuinely interested in why they feel or think that’s the thing that they do? Does that make sense?Shorten with AI

Lane 15:57
Yeah, that makes total sense. I guess I just need to be careful about how I asked those those wise to really not make them think I’m questioning them, rather than trying to learn about what their opinions are.

Rob 16:08
Yeah, it’s, it’s interesting, because just by asking a certain question a certain way, if you don’t have the right tone, if you don’t have the right word choice, and and, you know, it goes back to anything in sales, everything you do needs to be strategic, everything you need to do is thinking a little bit ahead and figuring out, what does this person need? What do they want? And by need, I mean, like, personally, what do they need, there’s a fear in there somewhere, some form, everybody has a fear.

And sometimes there’s simple fears. They’re simple to understand, I should say, they’re not really simple. Nobody has a simple fear. But they’re simple to understand. And there’s some sort of motivation that’s behind that. So all of our motivations inside are usually based on some sort of a fear. And so if you keep that in mind, knowing that those are the issues that can come up for this person, it’s about loss of security, loss of stability, knowing that then in your conversations, you have to make them understand that I understand where you’re coming from.

And it totally makes sense. When you when you’ve done that before, how come you did that, just so I understand, I want to make sure that I understand what you’re doing. So that I don’t I don’t do that again, or I don’t do that in the future, or you know what I mean? So it’s one of those, it’s getting them to feel comfortable, and really make them feel like they can open up to you a little bit. So I hope that helps on understanding what they are, what some of the traits are, what else you think should be important, other than just how to talk to them, I guess.Shorten with AI

Lane 17:31
Yeah, earlier you mentioned so an S will tend to talk a little bit slower. Do I need to talk slower to them as well? That is a really good question. And if so, how slowly?

Rob 17:43
See, when we started talking about this, I kind of expected you to do one of these strokes. Wow.

Lane 17:55
Me, too. Oh,

Rob 18:00
that’s what I thought you were gonna say.

Lane 18:01
But okay, Dory.

Rob 18:04
That was, but honestly, that’s a really good question. Do you need to speak slower? Well, if it’s about making them feel comfortable, then yes. And you have to pace yourself with them. So if they speak in a very slow manner, they think about a little bit of their words, they make a little bit of a story out of it, or they tell you more information than necessary, but you know, they’re getting to the point. And then then you come around to understanding what they’re saying, then yeah, you need to talk back to them kind of the same way.

And it’s frustrating, because when you get excited, they recoil. And I don’t mean recoil, but if you start speaking really quick, like “Hey, listen, we want you to do this, we’re gonna do that.” All of a sudden, they’re, they’re like, Whoa, we’re not doing anything until I tell you, we’re gonna do something. And I don’t know when that’s gonna be. So just stop. And so it’s really you know, you do have to, you have to slow down, follow their lead, and understand what they’re looking for.

And it doesn’t mean you have to slow down dramatically, it just means start to match their pace, start to understand what it is that they need from you. And by slowing down a little bit, you’ll get that feel, and you’ll get that story better. And it’s really just asking a lot of questions when it comes down to it, and asking those questions the right way. So that’s a good question. IShorten with AI

Lane 19:21
think you said when when they’re talking a little bit slower that they’re, they’re thinking a little bit more, I know, you’re not alluding that I’m not thinking but you know, if they are thinking a little bit more, how does that make them a stronger communicator? Or Or is there a downside to that?

Rob 19:36
Yeah, you know, there are in by speaking a little slower, they do probably get a chance to think about their word choice, say things the right way ahead of time before they say it. And I will say this, when I speak with an S and I’m talking on a sales call with an asset I slow down, I find that I’m much better at speaking because it makes me think a little bit more and a little ahead of myself.

So that I know where I’m going with things, and he lets them follow along. But it also lets me think a little bit more. So there’s some value to that, because they’re so good at resolving conflict that we talked about earlier was that, you know, you have two co workers that are fighting with each other, that’s helpful to have somebody like that on your team, if you have something like that doesn’t resolve anything, or help you with anything in the sales process.

But imagine if you’re in a sales meeting, and you’re meeting with a high D, and you’re meeting with a second person that’s in the room, that’s a high C. And then there’s this other person who’s sitting there is an ass, who’s kind of agreeable all the time, and you’re listening to this conversation, the DNC start arguing with each other, who’s going to jump in to save that process, who’s going to jump in, and open up some doors and conversations with that, if you if you yourself, the salesperson sits down, and just says nothing and listens and watches and don’t try to interject or do anything, the S is going to step in and go, well hold it, hold it.

If remember, when we talked about this, before, we talked about doing this, we talked about doing that. And we can hybrid, these two pieces together, they’ll start to work through the conflict for you, the salesperson, so let them do some of those types of things. So there’s value in that. And I think one of the things is that if they’re the leader, they act as the leader, they’re going to let their team work it out. And then they’re going to ask questions and say things that will help their team who is there in the meeting with them, they’re going to help them resolve the decision there without making the decision themselves.

So that’s one way that they can help in a sale. And they can be a strength, if you will, for you, but also their strength. I think one of the things that I On the flip side, they are very routine driven. So it’s good as a leader, but in the sale and all these different things, they may say and their routine might be send me a proposal, and I’ll look at it. And you’re like, that’s not my routine, right? You that’s not what you want to do, you have some questions, you want to make sure that you get, they don’t want to change. And so you have to kind of earn their respect and trust before they will actually let you do that.

And, and they need a lot of time to change their, you know, change mine. So if you have to change something in your estimate, because of a conversation that you had with them, and all of a sudden, they change a little bit of their direction, or their team changes the direction a little bit, and all of a sudden the scope goes opened up a little bit. And now all of a sudden you need to add more dollars to it, they’re going to need some time to adjust to that more than a D would light right.

So a D is going to go Alright, that’s fine. And then the S is going to go, Well, well, how come Why? Why do we need to do that? What if we did, and you know, they start working through these other pieces that they’re just going to need a little more time. And that’s with anything that they do, they just need time. So I think earlier, when you said they’ve It’s been three months that you’ve talked to them, depending on the size of the dollar, or the size of the project, that could be really normal for them, they could have a three month decision making timelines that could be the way they work.

I had a client one time or a potential client, one time I was dealing with, they started the conversation. I think it was in a in June, I think it was the month of June. We didn’t sign the contract, I think it wasn’t until November. And the initial conversation went well, we were I recognized him as an S with another with a C personality behind it. And I knew I needed to move slow, we move slowly. It took me on purpose. It took me three weeks to even write the estimate with him.

Because I wanted to make sure all the details were right. But also that we were involving all the people that needed to be involved. And then he needed some time he needed to revert go through it with his boss, and this is a large companies and international company. So he’s like I need to go through it with my boss, it’s gonna take a little bit of time. Now knowing knowing the personality like I do now, because after the after they sign and we work together with them, I can see why the boss had a little bit more of a deep personality and another personality with it. And so he was trying to figure out how do I present this, so the boss will be happy.

So that’s interesting. Yeah. So I knew there was a little bit of that happening. And in that conversation, when we were going through the estimate and going through the information, talking about timelines, when we were gonna get back together, he made the comment, it’s going to be a little bit of time, I’m going to need some time and I go, okay, mind if I ask you a couple questions about who you’re going to present this to.

And I started asking him questions. And I found out or figured out that it sounds like they may be ID personality with some other. So we knew that there was going to I knew there was going to be some sort of a process to that for him. And it’s going to take a little bit of time. And so knowing that it’s three months, don’t be afraid to reach back out, you can reach back out pretty easily and go, Hey, I just want to check to make sure everything’s okay.

Was there a question that came up in your process of making your decision that you wanted to get an answer to? And sometimes they’ll answer that question, you know, you could call them esna they’ll ask answer that question. But it does take them a lot of time. The other thing that I found is that because they’re so quiet in terms of their feelings, and in terms of their conflict resolution, if they don’t like you, they probably won’t tell you.

So that’s when I said earlier that, you know, they’re gonna, they’re gonna say yes to your face, but they’re gonna be no, no, no in the background. And you’ll never know. So be aware that when you’re getting a lot of yeses diving into those questions in terms of, you know, tell me more about why you feel like this is the direction you should go. Because I’m not I’m not sure that it is the right and I want to make sure that it is and let them explain some of those things.

Another thing is, is that they have a little bit of a hard time to say no, they don’t like to say no, because it’s kind of a conflict a little bit, right. So if you’re in a conflict, it’s easy. If you’d like to have the conflict, you’re going to say no, just to say no. But if you’re not that kind of a person, then it’s not going to be that that type of individual is going to like that there’s natural light to say no. Makes sense. No, no. Okay, soShorten with AI

Lane 26:10
you makes total sense. You know, based on what we’ve talked about, I can think of some customers, some of my customers that may be an S. But for the sake of comparison, can you give me some real life examples of who we might be talking about?

Rob 26:29
Yeah, you know, there are some examples. It’s hard. It’s hard to recognize them in real life, though. So when I did a little bit of research on this, I found that there, here’s a couple people that might you might know as individuals that are famous. So, for example, they listed off and there’s a few places that probably the same people as mother, Teresa, Gandhi, you know, you those would make sense, right? They’re very peaceful people.

Lane 26:52
Yeah, that that’s hard to hard to relate to.

Rob 26:55
Yeah. So when I yeah, so when I started looking, I’m like, Alright, who else? So Michael J. Fox was another one. Halle Berry, Matthew Broderick, and Tom Brokaw. And Peyton Manning. And the one that comes up on a couple list is, which surprises me is Jimmy Fallon. And it seems like he would be an eye but other than us, so apparently, he’s an S, I don’t know.

When you are dealing with a personality, you think you know, the personality or you think that you know that this person is that personality? You need to verify it. And you need to verify it by asking certain questions. If you have somebody that when you’re talking to them, when you first get started, you’re thinking, boy, there seemed to be task oriented. And they seem to be not so analytical, but they do seem to be like driven by some numbers here.

What’s going on? Are they a high C? Or are they a high d? And in that conversation, you might ask some questions. Hey, you know what, normally, when I go through a meeting like this, I might give you the high level 30,000 foot explanation of here’s what we’re doing. Here’s what the process is bla bla bla bla. And then there’s other people that say to me, you know what I want, I want to know what’s happening from step one to step two?

Step three, step four, Step five, and if there’s a five B, I want to know that one, too. If I had to explain our process, how would you want me to explain that? And if by asking that question, you’re gonna know, they’re either higher D than they are a C, or they’re a higher c than they are a D, just by asking that question. How important is that having the team involved in this decision? And if they go, I have teams here, but they do what I asked them to do.

Okay, they’re a task person, they’re one of the two at the top now we start driving down. If they go, yeah, you know what they’re going to need to be involved in this. In fact, my my chief, whatever officer and the Chief, whatever officer they need to get together, we’re going to talk through this. And then we’re trying to make some decisions here soon. Probably not an AI, it’s probably an S. Right. So you’re going to start to ask some questions that are going to drive you to which direction you are. So does that make sense?Shorten with AI

Lane 28:56
Yeah, it makes total sense.

V/O 28:59
Do you have a question about sales call or text your question at 6087088? Slow? That’s 608-788-7569. Or you can email them to questions at the SLO pitch calm. Now, back to the show.

Lane 29:18
And we’re back. So I’m sure everyone that’s listening has the same question. I’m about to ask, how do you sell to an S personality?

Rob 29:27
I have no idea. I. So here’s the thing to understand. Stay with them. Like let them kind of lead you the direction you want to go earlier in the conversation. Make sure they know what to expect, so that there’s no surprises for them. They don’t they don’t have any surprises on the whole sale process, if you will. So if you’re going to ask them 50 questions, tell them hey, I’m going to ask you 50 questions so that they know what to expect but but really slow your whole process down.

Know that once you figure out that this person is an S, you’re gonna want to make sure that everything that you do takes maybe two or three times longer than you’re gonna expect it to take Just to make sure they’re with you, and they’ll speed it up, if they want to move faster, and that’s okay, you want to make sure that they’re feeling comfortable with you. So by giving them the time not pressuring them, and so forth, you’re really going to make them feel comfortable.

And they’ll have the reassurance, they don’t have that fear of loss of security, or what have you, by the time you get to the sale process and get into the numbers, if you say you’re going to do something, do it, don’t say it, and then not follow up or follow through with it. That is the worst thing you can do. Because they’re very remember, they’re reliable people, they can be counted on to do what they’re being told to do, or being asked to do.

And if you don’t do that to them, they’re gonna feel a loss of respect for you. So and just along the way, just be patient. Another piece that’s interesting is they’ll ask questions like, how do we do this? How does this impact us? Those types of questions are interesting, in my opinion, because now there’s two things. One is the how question that will allow you to speak more, but you don’t want to when you’re selling, you want to be the one listening, not speaking, right.

So if they’re asking you, how do we do this? That’s a that could be a long winded answer. And I might answer that question with a question that might sound like this. So how do we do this? And I would answer back with Well, that’s a, that’s a long, that’s a long answer. I don’t, I don’t know that. We have time for that. But I, I can give you some high level answers to that and go through a couple of steps. And I can dive down a little deeper if you need me to.

But I’m kind of curious before I, before I answer that. I’m kind of curious. Why are you asking me how we’re doing that. Now. Just curious what you’re looking to understand which part of it and you notice how I slowed way down? I asked the question, I made them slower, I made sure that they understood what I was asking them. And I was helping them feel like I’m just trying to understand where you’re coming from.

So that I’m number one, I’m doing that. So I understand that I’m answering the right question and the question that they’re asking Now, what I think is what they’re asking. And the other piece of that is they’re saying the word we, and because they said their word we it’s not always but when they say the word we it’s about us, it’s about team, it’s about family, it’s about all the other people and not about them.

And by didn’t of my understanding, or seeing that or hearing that word, you’re more likely to start to slow things down, listen for the word we, and you’ll know that you have somebody that’s probably more of an S. Now, when it comes to sales, you’re going to want to ask for what they think and what they what their opinion is. And they may not tell you, if you don’t ask. So they’re gonna let you talk because they want to hear information from you.

But you need to ask them what they think about different components and pieces, whatever that might be. So if you’re selling them a website piece, you know, you need to ask him how important is this aesthetics are, how important is the speed or how important all the things that you might need to ask them anyway. But really make sure that they’re involved in that decision making process and that their opinions are heard more than you do that, the more that they trust you.

And then I think the other piece that’s really kind of interesting is asking them to show you are explained to you how what you’re doing is going to help them because if they don’t get asked that question, again, it’s the same type of situation, they’re not going to tell you. And so you’re not going to know if they’re interested or not. Or if they feel like that’s a good product or service or whatever not. So until you ask they’re not and then you’re just kind of lost, you’re floating along.

Right. So you’re, you’re assuming you’re doing well, because they’re like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then No, no, no at the end, right. So you just want to make sure that they’re kind of involved with the process. And and you have to just be very clear where you are in every step of the way. And then the last piece, I think, is really verify at each step.

Number one, that you have all the information that you need, and that they have all the information they need, but verify where you are. So if you’re in the conversation, and you’re asking them some questions about what their problems are, what they’re trying to fix. And you need to ask the question back at some point, once you get through that section, you’re going to need to go back to the point of the question saying, alright, I understand I think what your problem is or what your situation is, and I think you called me in to do X. Is that correct?

And, and do you think we’re to the point where we need to start to talk about what possible solutions that we could do and what that looks like and see if there’s even one that jumps out to you that you think is the correct one either, we should do that. But then clarifying that they’re, they’re comfortable moving forward to us, you might have to say, Alright, if we’re gonna go and talk about those solutions and those options to choose from, if we go through that exercise, at some point, you know, listen, I’m not asking for an answer today, or next week.

But do you think at some point, whether that’s two weeks, two months, six months, whatever that might be, whenever you’re ready, that we’d be able to start to make a decision as to whether or not we’ll work together. And if they can’t, or don’t answer that question, ask some more questions. understand where they are, but really verify where you already step of the way. If you don’t have them explain that number and tell them how it fits in. Then they may be just saying, Yeah, that sounds good to me. And then you never hear from again, right? So,Shorten with AI

Lane 35:12
so, so sound like a lot of work.

Rob 35:14
They’re actually not as much as you think they’re actually less. But you have to just ask the right questions along the way. If you ask the wrong questions, or you say things the wrong way, either go sideways, or you’ll you’ll get a lot of yeses, and you’ll never go anywhere.

But to say that there are a lot of work. I don’t know that there any more work than the next one. We’re going to talk about some time as the seas, the seas are you want to talk about some work. There’s work for you. Oh, really? I remember the eyes. They wanted sushi all the time, remember? Yes, yes, yes. So I don’t know if it’s any more work or any less, it’s just a different style, there’s a different approach. But recognizing that it’s really important.

If you’re out there trying to sell to any of these personalities. First step for you is to learn about your own personality, what is your personality, because that’s the tendency you’re going to try to sell with. And that is not what everybody wants to know or hear from you. They want their personality reflected back at them.

To some extent, they want to know you’re different, but they want to know that you have a similar personality that can work with and knowing yours is critical. So I would recommend going to a website like crystal nose, cry, sta l kn o ws.com. You can do a free one there.

I don’t get anything out of it by telling you this. It’s an interesting exercise, you’ll learn a lot about yourself. And then you’ll be able to understand what other people look like by listening to what we’ve been talking about and apply the things that you need to do to get the sale. That’s really important. So if you need to deal with an S, just remember to slow down and let them open up and trust you before you move on. What do you think?Shorten with AI

Lane 36:50
Well, to all the SS, I want to say thanks for listening. We really appreciate it. We’re especially thankful that you’re here and because you’re so reliable, we know you’ll come back again for our next episode. We hope we earned your trust to come back Until then, stay steady. Wow, that

Rob 37:10
was really good lane. You really learn a lot. That’s awesome.

Lane 37:13
I’ve got a great teacher.

Rob 37:15
Alright, see you guys. See you.

V/O 37:17
Thank you for listening to the slow pitch. Slow down and close more.