June 07, 2019

[E40] Behavior Week: Bringing It All Together – Which Group Is Your Prospect In?

14 minutes

In this final episode bringing to a close two weeks of

Behavior coverage, it’s time to bring it all together as useful ways to help

with your selling process.

This isn’t about having four different sales processes or

scripts or systems. Its about adapting the words you use and the responses you

have for each group.

I cover the hardest part for sales people – identifying

which group your prospect is in, and as early in the conversation as possible.

There are certain things that members of each group say

or do that will help identify where they might fit into the four behavior

types.

Again, the point

isn’t to put everyone into a box but to give you a tool to a) give your

interactions the best chance of leading to a successful result, and b) not

shooting yourself in the foot by doing things that trigger the other person to

shut down and walk away.

Episode 40 – Transcript

[Coming Soon]

this episode, I do my best to wrap up two weeks of talking about behaviors so

that you can use this information in your sales career and in life. Welcome to

Episode 40 of The Sales Experience Podcast. Over the past nine episodes, I have

broken down the population of the planet into four main behavior groups,

starting at a high level for each group and then getting into more detail. Of

course, that’s difficult to do because everyone is different. Trust me, I know

that’s difficult. If you’ve listened to me any length of time or you know me, I

fully believe and understand that everybody is different.

Everyone

has their own experiences, talents, abilities, gifts, everything they’ve been

through life, everybody is completely different. And with that being said, there

is some overarching commonalities that occur when you look at shared

attributes. And so when we talk about analysts and promoters and supporters and

controllers, I know that not everyone is going to fit in a nice, neat box. At

the end of the day, like I said, everyone is different. However, with these

shared attributes with these personalities, you can really start to see the

main things that occur in interpersonal relationships and how they show up and

the patterns at these different levels.

this final episode, to conclude the discussion on behavior groups, I want to

bring everything together in a way that allows us information to be useful, and

not just something interesting that you listen to, listen to a bunch of

episodes and moved on from. I don’t want this to be like a shelf help book that

you have that you read once, put it on your shelf, it’s collecting dust, maybe

it’s about sales, maybe it’s about relationships.

goal as always is for this to be as practical and valuable as it can be for you

on a regular basis. What I want to cover in this episode, which is the question

that I get the most about the behavior groups, is how do you identify who the

other person is? How do you identify what group they’re in and then what do you

actually do about it? The previous episodes I talked to about how to sell to

those groups, how they like to buy. And that’s a good overview. But the problem

is, how do you know who they are? How do you know which group it is? How do you

know that you’re talking to a controller or a promoter or an analyst or

supporter?

That’s

the tough part is being able to do it and translate this into actionable

identifiers were in a conversation as quickly as possible, you can spot their

general behaviors and general personality traits that will help you steer the

conversation in the right direction, and stay out of the pitfalls and the land

mines that could kill your deal or your interaction with another person and

really set it off in a negative way.

So,

let’s first start off with the analysts. When you’re dealing with an analyst,

the way that you know is that they’re going to ask you questions. They’re going

to want data, metrics, testimonials, they’re going to want assurances that

they’re doing the right thing if they were to buy from you. Remember, their

biggest fear is making a mistake, looking stupid, screwing up and, you know,

basically being made fun of or looking dumb for something that they do, right.

And so their questions are going to be geared towards identifying if it’s the

right choice.

So,

listen in for when somebody’s looking for validation, that it is that right

choice, that they’re not going to make a mistake. Prospects in the analyst

group are going to start off with these kind of questions; testimonials,

metrics. They’re also going to want to know about satisfaction guarantees. They

want to know about guarantees, refund options, they want to know what happens

if they don’t like it, can they bring it back. If you hear that kind of

language from a prospect, then you know that you’re dealing with an analyst.

Another

big indicator is that somewhere in the conversation, especially if you haven’t

done a good job at the fundamentals, if they’re not sure if they can trust you

or your company, they’re going to ask for more information so they can do

research. If you hear them say, I need to do more research, I need to look into

this, I need to make sure this the right decision; you’re dealing with an

analyst. The downside is, is that if you’ve gotten to that point, they’re asking

for information, again, they don’t trust you. Something went sideways in the

conversation leading up to that point and that one’s a tough one to recover

from. Because if they don’t trust you now, anything you do will feel salesy. If

you’re trying to convince them that they should trust you, that’ll just set off

more alarms in their mind and make things worse. So, you’ve got to be careful,

make sure you do the fundamentals always. And in the analyst group, make sure

you just give them the data and the metrics.

Now,

the big pitfall that you have to watch out for with the analysts is that if you

give them too much data, if you give them too much information, if you let them

research too much, they’re going to fall into the trap of analysis paralysis

and then it’s over. They will be in that spiral forever. Trust me, as a born

again analysts who knows what that’s like, it will just go on and on forever,

and nothing will happen. Because if it’s not a complete, safe bet, hundred

percent guaranteed going to work out, move on to something else that is the

hundred percent safe bet, which nothing in life is 100%. And so they may end up

doing nothing at all times. So, look out for that when it comes to, if you’re

dealing with a prospect who’s asking questions, looking for data, metrics like

I said, they want testimonials of other people who did it. And I know this

sounds funny, but this is why I say all the time is, analysts want to see

testimonial proof that somebody else bought what you’re selling and didn’t die.

I know that sounds ridiculous, but to them a fate worse than death would be

making a mistake or looking bad. And so they want to make sure other people

didn’t do that.

Now,

moving on to promoters. On the other hand, they want to know if you remember,

they want to know what’s popular. Their biggest fear is the fear of missing

out. And so they want to make sure that whatever they’re buying is what other

people are doing. And not from a safety standpoint, like analysts, but more of

a not wanting to miss out. They want to know where things are at that other

people are doing, what other people are buying, where other people are going.

Again, they like that line at the restaurant and seeing the people lined up

because that must be where the excitement’s at, and that’s where they want to

be. And so they may be asking you for social proof, testimonials of people who

bought from you and then they had fun, they enjoyed it, right? Like they bought

the vacation package, they had a good time, they bought the car and they had a

good time, whatever that might be.

Now,

if you’re selling something that’s not fun, then you’ve got to be careful about

how you focus the conversation because obviously, they want to make sure they

have fun and I covered that in our previous episode. The other thing with the

promoters, the way you’ll know somebody as a promoter as well, is that if

you’re going through your sales process, if you’re asking questions, if you

have a form to fill out, or you have data that you need information you need for

the application process. Whatever that may look like, if they’re getting really

bored, and they’re having the hard time staying on task in the conversation

because they want to jump around all kinds of things. That’s a good indicator

that they’re a promoter because your process is boring them and it’s unfun,

which is what they try to avoid at all times.

Once you identify that you have a promoter in

front of you or on the phone, get through things quick. As far as the boring

tedious stuff of your application, help keep them focused, redirect them and

bring them back. Don’t take it personal, that they’re always bouncing around

because they want to have fun, they want to have a great conversation. And

you’ll notice that but you need to keep it on task. Otherwise, you’re going to

have a great long conversation that’s really fun with no sale. So, always make

sure it’s about that result and getting across that finish line. And the

promoters are going to be the ones who are going to be asking lots of

questions, want to know stuff, they have lots of stories to share. And they

just want to have a good time, but you need to make sure you’re driving for it

at all times.

Moving

on to the supporters. This group here may not ask a lot of questions. If you

have a prospect that feels like it’s the easiest sale ever, you want to be

careful because that may mean it’s a supporter group. Now, there are times

where you’re faced with a prospect who knows what they want, they know what you

offer, they don’t have any questions, it’s super easy because it’s almost

transactional, you are just there to help them get what they need.

However,

there are times when you’re faced with a supporter, who doesn’t want to ask

questions, they don’t have questions. If you’ve done your sale for any length

of time, and you’ve gone through this and you’ve made multiple sales, you’ve

been in your role for quite some time, then, you know, the kinds of questions

that most people would ask. Then every once in a while you have this prospect

you’re dealing with with no questions. And in the industry, it may feel like

it’s a lay down. The challenges is that person is not asking questions because

they don’t want the confrontation. They don’t want the drama, they don’t want

to hurt your feelings and they may not want to know the things that you might

tell them that are bad. They just want to go through and they don’t want to

worry about it. These are the ones if you’ve ever had this happen to you, where

if it’s over the phone, you put them on hold, and then they hang up. It’s not

that their phone got disconnected, it’s that they didn’t want to tell you no,

and so they were waiting for the opportunity to back out of it without having

to do it. And then when you call them back, they’re just never going to answer.

That

in their mind is easier than telling you they weren’t interested. Or they might

actually buy and I’ve seen this so many times, they might buy and if it’s a

service, then they will probably call back after hours when they know no one’s

going to answer and leave a voicemail or send an email to cancel because they

don’t want to deal with it. Supporters are going to use a lot of language when

you’re talking to them. And this is what you want to pick up on where it’s

about the people in their life or support, or the things that they do, or

people that they’re helping, or for example how what you’re selling is going to

help them help other people.

you hear that, that’s great because then it makes it very obvious. But the

other part that you might hear is when a supporter or your prospect says

something is too expensive. Maybe their analytical, but sometimes for

supporters that’s code for that just means there’s less money available to help

other people, when you combined kind of their no questions to if they say that

something is too expensive, then that’s them trying to tell you that they’re

worried because that means there’s going to be less available to help. So, you

want to make sure once you know there’s a supporter in front of you that you’re

asking a lot of questions to uncover their needs and goals, and tying that into

how your product or service helps their goals of being of service to other

people.

Now,

controllers last group, let’s talk about it. They will come at you like I said

in the last episode with a ton of questions and try to dominate the

conversation. Remember, like I said, the person who asked questions is in

control. They’re going to ask questions, they want to be in control, you will

know, this, I will tell you this group out of everybody, you will know really

quick. I would say probably within the first minute of the interactions, you

will know when you’re faced with a controller because you’re just going to be

pummeled with questions.

They’re

going to come full attack mode with questions, they want to be in control. They

know that’s the key to being in control. They know that’s how they can control

situations and people is by asking lots of questions and so that’s how they’re

going to come at it. It could be about price, terms, details up front, they

don’t have time for BS. They want to expose all the negatives of your product

and service, like I mentioned in the last episode, and they literally want to

make sure you don’t get anything over on them. And they’re just going to try to

beat you down until they poke all the holes in this thing that you’re selling,

determine if they want to buy or not, then it’s really up to them. And they’ll

walk away if they don’t like it. And so you want to make sure to wrestle back

control. Use reversal questions where you answer their question, and then throw

back another question so you can kind of take back control in little waves with

your questions and move the process forward.

Sometimes,

and this has just been my experience with controllers, you’ve got to just let

them punch you for a while with some questions; that way they feel satisfied,

that way they feel in control. And then you can take their questions and

everything they’ve been focusing on, and then try to serve them and help them

understand how your product or service is going to get them what they need or

what they’re looking for.

Now,

I know this might seem hard to do to identify people on the fly. And what I

really always suggest people to do, so if you’re listening to this, it might

seem overwhelming these 10 episodes that we’ve gone through. Key exercise that

I suggest that you do is take a list in your mind of all the close people that

you’ve had relationships with. So, past and present, good or bad and literally

take those people and then think about these four groups; the analyst, the

promoter, the supporter and the controller, and then think about where they

probably fell in these groups, and then kind of attach a mental image to that.

for example, if you go through this, and you’re like, oh, my mom is definitely

an analyst, right? Then when you talk about somebody had talked to a prospect

who says the kind of things that your mom would say or acts the way that she

did, let’s say in a buying situation or when you watched her buy things or

interact with a salesperson. Then it’s easier for you to kind of tie that

together and make that quick assessment on the fly of going, okay, this

prospect kind of is acting like my mom as an analyst, and so they’re an

analyst. And so now I got to shift into, here’s how I handle this conversation.

And so that’s super important for all of this is to make sure you can identify

people really quick. And that’s one great strategy to do.

Well,

that’s it for two weeks of behavior discussions, I hope this was valuable. The

nice part is because these are out there on the internet, you can download

them, listen to them over and over again, kind of like any skill, anything new

that you’re trying to learn like a new language, it basically takes some

practice.

And

really my goal with this, even though it does take some practice is that it’s

really easier than a Myers Briggs, or an astrological kind of chart or sign or

knowing what somebody sign is, which takes needing to know their birth date,

which is not going to be applicable in most situations where you start the

conversation. Hi, my name is Jason, what’s your birth date? Oh, okay. So you

must be this and then now you can have that conversation, that’s not going to

fly. That’s not possible in most things. So this system here is designed to

help you with those interactions, at least to get you over the edge on how to

make sure it’s successful. And you can help the prospect get what they want.

When

you can do that in terms of their perspective on the world and not yours, then

you’re going to win at a much bigger level. Now if you want help at a deeper

level of understanding for this, or you want your company to do a training,

reach out to me on CutterConsultingGroup.com website. I have on site, off site remote,

half day, full day workshops on this topic, as well as other sales training

sessions. Super fun, it’s a great thing to do in person with a group and cover

this. So, if that’s something you’re interested for you or your organization,

reach out to me.

And

if you’ve enjoyed these episodes, please share them with your fellow sales,

co-workers, your boss, whoever it is. Help me achieve my goal of changing the

landscape of how sales is done. And let’s all do that by using our powers for

good to help prospects enjoy the sales experience. I know I went over my goal

of being under 10 minutes but I just wanted to cover so much stuff and wrap

this up and give you so many things that you can take out into your daily life

to be able to get some value.

Hopefully,

you enjoyed this long episode and until next time, always remember that

everything in life is sales and people will remember the experience you gave

them.

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By Jason Cutter

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