Customer Secrets

What are the reasons that personality marketing tactics have not been successful in the past? What is different about what we're doing here? Does it really work?

These are the questions we're going to tackle in this episode.

Michael starts off this episode with his journey in his search for the tool that would help him get to know his customers. It is pretty impassioned, and will have you feeling that you are probably going through the same situation. The truth is that we all have had the same experience. We've all researched personality in the past. and we found it -- to use the words that Michael used -- to be "fluff."

So we'll look at why they are fluff. We'll ask the tough question: "what did they miss that we found?" It isn't a pretty episode. We're going to call out the other guys for feeding us half-truths. A half-truth is far worse than a lie, because it is so easy to be taken in. We'll tell you the assumption that they've used, and how that assumption has killed your chances of succeeding.

I recently read an article by Dario Nardi called "Factoids re MBTI® instrument and 16 Types" and I wanted to discuss a few key points that Dario brings up. He is of the "Strategist" personality temperament, meaning that in his Myers-Briggs type, he has the letters N and T. The "N" is for Intuition, and the "T" is for Thinking. 

Not only are we discussing the points of his article -- which I agree with -- but I also want you to pick up what is important to the person with the "Strategist" temperament. When you know what is important to that type of person, it gives you a short-cut to marketing and selling to them. 

But getting back to his article, he brings up several great points. The one that I find to be most important is that behavior is based not only on your learning and experiences, but it is 40-to-50% based on your personality. What this means is that what your customers do is not just based on their past and how they grew up, but it is also based on "instinctive traits" that they are born with. If you as a marketer or salesman are using these personality traits in your selling, you will have a huge advantage over your competition.

I also talk about our facebook group, which is called Personality Marketeers. Check it out for Michaels daily facebook live discussions.

Also be sure to check out our blog at Customer Secrets website.

In this episode, Michael Abdo and Tim Van Milligan talk about how artificial intelligence works. But more than that, we'll talk about how it has changed marketing because it allows you to target specific customers that have values that match your own.

But the thing about AI, is that right now it is like a child. Without specific training, it it dumb. It needs a lot of data for it to be useful. An example we talk about in the show is how an A.I. bot identified people with high intelligence. How did it do that? It identified those people that "liked" on facebook a particular picture of curly-fries (Here is a link to the research: https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_golbeck_the_curly_fry_conundrum_why_social_media_likes_say_more_than_you_might_think). Now do all smart people like curly fries? Of course not. And lots of people with low I.Q. love curly fries too. Does that also give them high I.Q.?

A.I.-Bots need lots of data to sort through to find the commonality. But they don't give you the "why" answer that you are looking for. It is still up to a human to interpret the results the bot comes up with, and to determine if they make sense. Otherwise, you'll assume everyone has high I.Q., because they love curly fries (who doesn't like curly fries???).

The issue with A.I. is that governments are cracking down on its use. When given a large enough data set, it can clearly identify an individual, and tell you what personality type and therefore the values that the person hold to be important. They don't want that information in the hands of marketers (us included). That's not a problem for us... because we know how to type people without a huge dataset. That's why you will want to subscribe to this podcast, because we'll show you how to do it.

What is on the horizon for where personality marketing is going? We're going to make predictions on what we think you'll see coming in the world of advertising and marketing. But the pace of change is happening so quickly, that some of our predictions are already here. Did you know there is already an app that will tell you the personality type of that woman you want to connect with on Linkedin. Not only that, but the app will give you phrases to use that match her personality, so that she'll be more likely to accept the pitch you're making.

So  what else is coming? 

We also discuss how you can type a person by the clothes that they wear. Find out how by listening now.

At the end of the episode, we are giving out a special offer for a free book called: "Emotional Copywriting Revealed." This book is our free gift to those of you that would like to learn more about using personality marketing, and are willing to participate in the discussion by joining our facebook group called "Personality Marketers". 

Can you type a person by their shoes? According to the research, yes you can. Click here for details.

Why is it that people can't seem to dial in on their true personality type? Why is it that they seem to jump from one set of personality traits to another, each time they take a personality assessment? Does personality really change like that? And why is it that people think that being in the middle on a particular trait, like half-way between an introvert and an extrovert is the optimum for a human being? These are the types of questions we'll discuss in this episode.

At the end of the episode, we are giving out a special offer for a free book called: "Emotional Copywriting Revealed." This book is our free gift to those of you that would like to learn more about using personality marketing, and are willing to participate in the discussion by joining our facebook group called "Personality Marketers". 

One of the common complaints about taking personality quizzes is that they don't seem to be consistent. Every time you take one, you might come back with a different set of personality traits. One time you might be an ENFP, and the next time it comes back saying you're a ENFJ. Which is it? Which is more accurate?

In this episode of the Customer-Secrets podcast, we'll tackle that question and why written assessments are prone to change every time you take one. And we'll discuss how modern technology has changed the landscape making written questionnaires almost useless. And then we'll predict what the future is in store for personality typing.

Finally, we'll discuss personality theory, and how a "theory" can be tested by making accurate predictions of another person's behavior. We're relying on this theory being accurate, because it is the basis for the methods we use to make selling and persuasion more efficient and easier. Once you have the theory down, your ability to persuade increases to the point of it being totally "unfair." Your competitors don't stand a chance against you. So You may have to make a conscious effort not to use the persuasion methods we talk about here too often, or everyone will think that your success is based on you manipulating other people. In reality, it is based on a deeper understanding of the personality of your customer, and what they value.

At the end of the episode, we are giving out a special offer for a free book called: "Emotional Copywriting Revealed." This book is our free gift to those of you that would like to learn more about using personality marketing, and are willing to participate in the discussion by joining our facebook group called "Personality Marketers". 

Cambridge Analytica used personality data on a massive scale to influence the 2016 Presidential elections. They proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that using psychographic marketing really does work. If you're not using it in your business to attract and to get customers to take action by buying your products, you're ignoring a new scientific tool that has infinite upside potential.

What Cambridge Analytica had was access to Facebook's data on customers, and they were able to exploit this information on a country-wide scale. Because of what they did, Facebook got their hand slapped and they were forced to close off access to customer information. This is also why such regulations like the GDPR rules in Europe are now in effect. 

What can you do to use personality marketing in a climate like this where data is restricted? That is what we're talking about in this episode. What are we doing differently here at Customer Secrets that gives you the benefits of personality marketing without have to have access to someone's personal and private data?

At the end of the episode, we are giving out a special offer for a free book called: "Emotional Copywriting Revealed." This book is our free gift to those of you that would like to learn more about using personality marketing, and are willing to participate in the discussion by joining our facebook group called "Personality Marketers". 

"The scientific evidence is consistent and clear: one can increase the effectiveness of marketing messages and other types of persuasive communication by tailoring them to people’s psychological profiles” - Harvard Business Review (May 2, 2018). https://hbr.org/2018/05/what-marketers-should-know-about-personality-based-marketing  

We're answering the question in this episode about what proof do we have that psychometric marketing really works. The proof comes from the results of the presidential election in 2016. It was how a company called Cambridge Analytica was able to influence the election by getting fence-sitters to get out and vote for their candidate.  What everyone is appalled about is the "how" they were able to get psychographic information on hundreds of millions of voters by scraping the "Likes" of millions of facebook users. However, what gets lost in the discussion is that this type of marketing really and truly works and gets results.

Why Cambridge Analytica was successful is that they understood that personality is more than just behavior. Personality is linked to what person considers important. That is why they went after the "likes" that people made on facebook. When you click the "like" button, you are indicating that the topic is important to you. You don't click that button on the things you don't like, right? The key concept here is that personality is more than just behavior, it is about what you value.

Once they had your personality locked down, the next step that Cambridge Analytical did was to craft 32 different messages that would appeal to each one of the personality types. What they couldn't do was to change what you considered valuable. But they could make the message that aligned with what you already thought was valuable. In other words, the message they created for "you" was something that you would consider important. That specific message to you was meant to get you to do two things - click the like button, and get you to vote for their candidate.

Also in this episode, our new host, Michael Abdo asks Tim Van Milligan how he got his start in using personality as a way of persuading people. Once Tim started down the path, he also describes the roadblocks that prevented him from getting to the final piece of the puzzle in understanding personality.

Additional References:

Here are some additional videos that describe the Cambridge Analytica scandal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Dd5aVXLCc - Alexander Nix explains the process his company used to go after voters "one-at-a-time" by marketing to the personality profiles of the individual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb6-xz-geH4 - Christopher Wylie, a data analyst and whistle blower tells how Cambridge Analytica helped Donald Trump win by scraping data from millions of facebook users.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/like-curly-fries-you-re-clever-like-motorbikes-you-re-not-the-science-of-facebook-likes-8530101.html

Why do people hate dealing with salespeople?

The reason is that salespeople are taught to ask questions. Sounds harmless, doesn't it. What is so controversial as a "question?"

But there is one negative aspect of asking questions that nobody talks about. That is this: "questions demand engagement." By engagement, I mean that the recipient of the question has to stop what they are doing, and address the question. Even choosing not to respond takes a conscious effort that only happens after you've had to stop what you're doing.

People hate to be interrupted. And that is what questions do. They interrupt.

Do you ever pick up a telephone, and the first words you hear are: "how are you doing today?" You know it is a salesperson on the other end, right? They simply can't help but to blurt out a question in order to drive your participation in the conversation. Whether you want to talk to them or not. They force it on you by starting out with a question.

Since salespeople are the one asking the questions, the hatred is of being interrupted is transferred to them. See why people don't like dealing with salespeople?

In this episode, we'll go deep into this discussion, and try to come up with a better way of approaching the prospect without getting them riled up by forcing an engagement.

"Personality" is a leading indicator. That means it can show up in a room, even before a person enters the room. It is like the light from the headlights on your automobile. Even before you can see the car on a dark road, you know that a car is approaching you because the light from the headlights is penetrating the darkness. You don't need to meet a person, to get a clue to their personality type. Their personality is already penetrating the area they are coming in to.

What are some of the clues to a person's personality? Where would you find them? 

In this episode, I will give you some of the clues that came to me from a job candidate that I was interviewing for a position I was hiring for. One of the big sources of clues to the candidates personality was the resume that they submitted ahead of time. Even before the person spoke to me, I already knew with a high degree of certainty that they had the S-F-P letters in their Myers Briggs personality profile. The "S" is for "Sensing, the "F" stands for "Feeling," and the "P" stands for "Perceiving."  The only letter missing was the first one. That came a short time later when they started talking in the actual interview. In just a couple of short sentences, I could pick up that they were an introvert. That gave the file letter, the "I" for introversion, in the four letter personality code.

The hard part of typing is that you probably don't know what the clues are that people give off. That is what you'll discover in this podcast episode.