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I am honored to be part of this dynamic training institute and I am certain that individuals and organizations will benefit greatly from participating in this worthwhile and much needed sales training concept. Mel Kaufman,MS,PhD

You're never going to increase your closing or conversion rate by pushing what you want to do in the way you want to do it, because there are lots of folks out there who don't think or act or even feel the same as you.

Let me put it more succinctly: online efforts that don't make allowances for the different ways in which people approach making a decision leave lots of money on the table.

It's A Personality Thing.

So, to make it online, you gotta construct the type of environment that leads your customers through buying the way they want to buy. You write copy, set up decision paths and create designs that are going to snag your various visitors, pull them in and get them to take action.

Your task-oriented visitors are landing on your site with a single question in mind: What's in it for me?

Are You Listening?

Are you listening? We all do; every one of us is always tuned into our favorite "radio station", WIIFM, What's In It For Me! When we design our websites, how do we meet the needs of every type of personality that may visit? Each personality has preferences in how they interact, view the world, and reach decisions.

Since the time of Aristotle, it has been known that each of the millions of different personalities will fall basically into one of four groups by temperament:



Driver

Amiable

Expressive

Analytical

A major objective of a website is to be able to consistently communicate to each of the four temperaments, so that the prospect can "self serve" himself or herself the appropriate information that they require to influence their buying decision. We must give each personality exactly what they want and need.

Lets take a look at the four basic personality types:

The Driver: - Wants Accomplishment

These individuals have a deep appreciation for challenges. They enjoy being in control, are goal oriented and are looking for methods for completing tasks. They are usually quick to reach a decision. They want to know what your product or service can do for them to solve their problem.

The Amiable: - Wants Acceptance

These individuals appreciate the personal touch. They like things that are non-threatening and friendly. They hate dealing with impersonal details and cold hard facts. They are usually quick to reach a decision. They want to know why your product or service is best to solve their problem.

The Expressive: - Wants Applause

These individuals are very creative and entertaining. They enjoy helping others and are particularly fond of socializing. They are usually slow to reach a decision. They want to know who has used your product or service to solve problems.

The Analytical: - Wants Accuracy

These individuals appreciate facts and information presented in a logical manner as documentation of truth. They enjoy organization and completion of detailed tasks. They do not appreciate the "personal touch" or disorganization. They want to know how your product or service can solve the problem.

Average sales people sell to those that they relate to the best. On average they will usually sell to:



3 out of 10 people they meet

3 out of the 10 won't buy from them

4 out of 10 are sitting on the fence

It is the great sales person or website that learns to give these 4 the information and assistance they need to reach their buying decision.

This is just part of the challenge salespeople/ websites face in dealing with individuals. Each of us also has different means in which our brains prefer to "take in and process" information:



Visually

Auditory

Kinesthetically

One Internet company has used this understanding of individuals to grow as one of the premier brands. AOL has grown its flagship service to over 20 million members, by providing a simple way to get on the Internet, understanding and providing people with a sense of community and, by engaging all three processes, they have made marketing history.

Selling the Internet is a difficult thing, because the Internet is an intangible. AOL understood that by putting their colorful CD-Rom packages and disks in the hands of people, they provided a kinesthetically oriented individual the opportunity to get a "hold of" the Internet and what it offered.

When you signed on, you were met with a beautifully simple and colorful screen to provide visually oriented people with a pleasant experience.

However, the ultimate genius was the auditory cue that was used, it has become an icon and an anchor for millions of individuals "you've got mail."

Have you tuned into your customer's favorite station or will you march by the beat of your own drummer?

They ask the question and look to you to provide the answer. And it's a big question. Your answer depends on things like your Unique Value Proposition, the products or services you offer, your ability to instill trust and confidence. But most of all, your answer must be reflected in the way your site "speaks" to the four dominant personalty types.

We've talked about the sales process and my colleague, Bryan, has written about the buying decision process - these are the paths of activity your Web site must accommodate. But folks are gonna walk those paths differently. Let's quickly review the differences (for more info, see Personality 101:

AMIABLE
Attitude: Personal, activity oriented
Using Time: Undisciplined, fast paced
Question: Why is your solution best to solve the problem?
Approach: Address values and provide assurances, credible opinions rather than options

ANALYTICAL
Attitude: Businesslike, detail oriented
Using Time: Disciplined, methodically paced
Question: How can your solution solve the problem?
Approach: Provide hard evidence and superior service
EXPRESSIVE
Attitude: Personal, relationship oriented
Using Time: Undisciplined, slow paced
Question: Who has used your solution to solve my problem?
Approach: Offer testimonials and incentives
ASSERTIVE
Attitude: Businesslike, power oriented
Using Time: Disciplined, strategically paced
Question: What can your solution do for me?
Approach: Provide options, probabilities and challenges
You're getting the idea that different personality types ask different questions, require different sorts of information to feel comfortable making their decisions and even take different amounts of time in which to make their decisions, right?

Think about how all this works in the "real" world.

Imagine you - an impressionistic, Expressive type - go to a bricks-and-mortar store to purchase a digital camera. All you want is a camera that takes pictures and isn't a big hassle - you just want to enjoy yourself.

The salesperson comes on like a know-it-all and rattles on about pixels and resolutions and cabling and any number of other technical considerations you really could care less about. You want to know, and truly only care, whether the camera is going to fit into your lifestyle. Will it be a good match for your expectations and how you generally use techie gadgets like this?

If the salesperson can"t communicate the information you need to know, in the way you want to learn it, you're not going to be happy. You are going to start tuning out the salesperson. And you'll probably walk away none-the-wiser, as well as cameraless.

Now, imagine you are a very Analytic sort of person. You've done the research and inherently understand the advantages or disadvantages of each feature. To feel comfortable about a purchase, you need to know you are getting a camera designed to meet your criteria.

You want to speak with someone who knows all the facts and can answer all your questions. But you get a different salesperson in our theoretical store, and this one wants to tell you all about how easy the camera is to use and shows you print-out images and explains her Mom has one and loves it. This is going to strike you as vague and ditsy. You are going to start tuning out the salesperson and may well conclude she doesn't know the first thing about what she's trying to sell.

Good salespeople know whether or not they are saying what the customer needs to hear, the way the customer needs to hear it, in order to make a decision to purchase. And a good salesperson knows how to redirect the presentation quickly if it isn't working. It's one of the most essential components of "the sale.ŝ

Acknowledging personality types online is critical - you are conducting business in a self-service medium. You aren't there to modify your persuasion tactics when you notice they're falling on deaf ears. You only notice you've missed the mark when you check out your Web logs.

Online, it's the responsibility of your hyperlinks to establish, maintain and offer alternatives to your "dialog." So how do you do that?

Let's distill the information above to the basics:



Amiables prefer to focus on WHY questions.

Analyticals prefer to focus on HOW questions.

Expressives prefer to focus on WHO questions.

Assertives prefer to focus on WHAT questions.

Now, look at this snippet of copy:

Our approach is personalized to meet your objectives. The bottom line is that your results are guaranteed. Explore our methodology to discover how thousands of clients just like you have been delighted.

Different elements in this copy are going to appeal to different personality types. Amiables will latch onto the "personalized to meet your objectivesŝ part. Analytics will make a bee-line for the "methodologyŝ section. Expressives are going to be very interested in those "thousands of clients." And the Assertives are happiest when you cut to the chase and talk "bottom lines" and ŝguaranteed results."

With this knowledge, you can develop a linking strategy - always in the active window - so your visitors can follow the buying decision path as it suits them best.

This personality stuff is the key. And there's no time like the present for getting personable!! How To Make Bigger Sales By Knowing Personality Types| Different Types Of Personalities | Buyer Personalities.