NAPAA - National Association of Professional Allstate Agents, Inc.

marketing tips
Three Keys to More Sales
with Less Effort
Submitted by Michael Mills
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 who 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 purchase plan’s 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 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
prospects or the different types of “Purchase
Preferences” and “Gratification
Modes”. If he had, research shows 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.
Buyers have specific personal needs
when they are making a purchasing decision.
The “needs” to which I am referring
are unrelated to the product or service
they are buying. The “need” is related
to the person’s character, their dominate
personality type, and if you can match
the content of your presentation to their
personality type, you’ll have a better
chance of knowing what you can best
say to “trigger” their subconscious gratification
needs and move them closer to
making a purchase decision.
In the simplest of terms, there are
three 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 will make on others when others
see it, as well as 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 and 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 want
to receive some information. They want
to make sure the decision is the best for
them. It is important 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. Finally, 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 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 salesperson’s
closing rate would have increased dramatically.
Knowing this, the store would
have 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” individual by
using an “objective” sales presentation.
The goal is always “more sales with less
effort,” so do your market research well
and everything that follows will become
easier and easier.
A simple way to boost your sales is to
understand what motivates your customer
or client to buy. Understanding what
triggers a person’s subconscious desire
to buy can increase your closing rate by
up to 80 percent, turning many “on the
fence” prospects into satisfied customers.
The moral of this story: Start controlling
your sales process by making the effort
to understand your target audience
and hone your sales presentation to fit
each of the three personality types described
above. It will consistently get you
better results with less effort. Ef
Michael Mills is Managing Partner at
BusinessDesignCorp.com - a consulting
and business development company. As
an Advanced Senior E-Myth consultant,
Michael has systemized hundreds of businesses.
Business Design Corporation has recently
released a web-based application, The
TouchStone Business System, to help companies
consistently create and easily implement
operating procedures.
20 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2011