Guest post by Darion Miller and Steve Teneriello from the Service Coach blog
Generally speaking, sales people fall into three distinct categories based on personality. Let’s talk about each one. (You’ll probably identity some of the members of your organization right away.)
The Technical Educator (TE) – TE’s rely heavily on educating the prospect through a lengthy and technical demonstration of the solution or product they are trying to sell – making sure to demonstrate each and every feature and function. Through this long process they may actually stumble upon the buyer‟s vision of a solution and magically close a deal after boring a prospect to death.
The Technical Educator isn’t really comfortable with sales. TE’s generally feel that asking for business is wrong. They hope that by providing information, a prospect will ask them to make a service appointment. As a result, technical educators can spend four hours on what an all-star could accomplish in sixty minutes or less. The bottom-line with a sales person who has a TE personality profile is that they are not producing at a high level. They invest too much time for too small a return on the investment.
The Bulldozer - You know the stigma “Snake oil salesman”. This is what may come to your mind as we explore the bulldozer personality trait. Bulldozers use trickery and trumped up discounting to make a deal. They masnake oil salesmany skip sales appointments because they may have a predetermined bias of a customer;s location or income level. If you’re familiar with the movie Tin Men, you have seen bulldozers in action. The film stars Richard Dreyfus and Danny Devito as aluminum siding salesmen in the 1960‟s, a time when the product was first being introduced to the public. To great comic effect, the two men are willing to stoop to any level to outsell one another. In one scene, for example, Devito pretends to be a Time-Life photographer. He coerces a homeowner into getting new siding by claiming that he has been dispatched by the magazine to take a picture of her distinctive home…distinguished by the fact that it is the ugliest one on the block.
Bulldozers may be funny on the big screen, but in real life, they give the sales profession a bad name. Bulldozers love to hear themselves speak and very rarely do they drill down and listen to their prospects. Unlike the Technical Educator, a Bulldozer flies right through a demonstration and may go directly to price without delivering any value in a presentation or demonstration. They are looking for quick hits and very rarely do they follow a process.
Beware of Bulldozers if you are trying to build a solid reputation in the market place. Prospects often feel uncomfortable with them since they frequently rely on high-pressure tactics or create false urgency by offering today only pricing. Bulldozers may have decent activity and they may actually close a lot of deals for you, but I can assure you those customer relationships are very fragile and the activity they produce is not quality activity.
The All-Star – As the name suggests, an All-Star personality is especially well-suited to life as a sales person. Empathy comes naturally to an All-Star. They understand a prospect’s level of pain because they have the unique ability to put themselves in the customer‟s shoes. Unlike a TE or Bulldozer, All-Stars form consultative solutions that are designed to meet the buyer’s challenges, needs or goals. They position themselves as the trusted advisor and prospects have the same confidence in the advice of an All-Star as they would in a family doctor.
All-Stars understand and research their products, competition and know how to think on their feet. They provide customers with realistic expectations and have great listening skills. They are not afraid to ask for the business. They are resilient and they never give up. All-stars aren‟t afraid to ask the tough questions. Get an All-Star on your team and they’ll out perform Bulldozers and Technical Educators by a long shot.
You see, All-Stars get satisfaction from helping their customers…but at the same time are motivated by money. They take pride in working hard and long hours with the idea of reaping a large commission check. They are the type of sales people who wake up early and are excited to get to work. Your sales people – Technical Educators, Bulldozers, and All-Stars — are the people your customers are interacting with. Would you buy from them if you were about to make a major purchase? Or perhaps the better question to ask is: Which one of these people would you prefer to have as a business contact?
For more great stuff from Darion and Steve drop by the Service Coach blog
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