Imagine trying to sell to a prospect who only speaks German and you only speak English. Impossible, right? Well, that’s almost the same as trying to sell to someone in task mode by telling random stories about your family and asking them about theirs. Understanding your customer’s personality type and more importantly, their mood, will help you engage with your prospects on a much deeper and effective level.
There has been a ton of information on determining the personality type of your prospect and communicating in their “language”. The tools that I’ve used and distributed to my clients are excellent for recruiting and managing sales people. However, most of it is very complicated in our fast paced world of selling. Can you really determine the primary and secondary personality type of someone within the first five minutes of a meeting? Probably not.
Instead of trying to determine the DISC or Myers Briggs profile of your prospect, figure out their mood – are they in task mode or socializing mode? There is one simple question that you can ask that will help you determine this: “Are you ready for …?” You can use this question any time of the year. Examples: “Are you ready for school to start?” Are you ready for football season?” Are you ready for fall?” After you ask your question, observe the manner in which they answer. If they immediately start talking and are not worried about answering the question accurately, they are likely in a socializing mood. If they blow off the question, or pause and make sure they answer the question accurately, they are in task mode.
It’s really that simple. Try out this question with anyone and see how it works. How should you handle each type of mood? Well, that’s another post, but hopefully you already know the basics… end your meeting early with someone in task mode, ask a socializer about their family, etc.
