How do you prepare for a meeting with a potential customer? How come the same sales pitch ends up with a transaction with some customers and not with others? These questions were some of the questions we got answered on the lecture Sell the way your customer buys, where the sales coach Robert Bloom taught us about the unique communication and sales method Why They Buy. Also keen to find out more about Why They Buy? Luckily we took some notes for you.
Studies have shown that 97% of the time a sales process is ongoing, the potential customer has his/hers gard up, ready to knock that sales pitch right down. After the pitch, 70% are not willing to buy. Why is that?
In today’s society, we’ve lost the humanity in the sales process. The process is way too mechanical and clinical and we’ve therefore lost the emotional contact between seller and buyer. One of the biggest mistakes a seller can do is to make a sales pitch based on their own personality type. What would happen if the seller would look outside his/her perspective and try to understand why the customer buys?
According to “Why They Buy” customers make their buying decisions based on their personal values. By identifying your potential customers values and try to communicate based on these, you can create a connection and thereby increase the likelihood of a purchase. Because of the fact that only 18% of the potential customers actually buy from a salesperson with a personality that does not align with theirs.
So how does one identify the values of a potential customer? According to “Why They Buy” there are four different personality types: Blueprint, Action, Nutrition and Knowledge. These are together called B.A.N.K. Each personality type consists of values that work as “buying triggers”. For example, “Blueprint” is a person with values such as stability, planning, rules and structure, A person with a personality with more “Action” values freedom, excitement, spontaneity and having fun. “Nutrition” is the third personality type and could be described as people that have relations, teamwork, ethics and morals as their main values. Lastly, the person with “Knowledge” as their personality type is a person who values intelligence, logic, technology and expertise.
By ranking Blueprint, Action, Nutrition and Knowledge depending on how well they align with someone’s personality, you as a seller have the opportunity to crack your potential customers B.A.N.K code. That will help you create a personal connection to the customer and find out what motivates this customer to make an actual purchase.
To summarize, it is important to always try to create a personal connection with your potential customer and try to see them as a person and not a transaction. Then try to identify the personality type and create trust in order to finish off with a transaction.
