HeStoleMyTwix

Buyer personalities and sales process

I'm beginning to think that the largest factor in deal velocity is buyer personality.

Maybe this is obvious, but as I reflect on the past year I've had $15k deals that were a nightmare (slow, unreliable prospect, excessive PoC etc, endless reference checks) and $150k deals that closed off a 30 min demo.

In both I could identity pain and alignment on value, but the one differentiator was the buyer. One was decisive and 'did what they said they'd do', the other was wishy washy throughout.

In all your experiences, is it fair to say that buyer personality is the number one factor of strong deals? And if so, should we be spending way more time qualifying this as a factor early on?

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📈 Closing

☁️ Software Tech

13 comments

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TheNegotiator

Arsonist

VP of Sales

Yes and no. Identifying buyer personalities play a part is a key step to getting better. But it’s not the full answer. Are you just gong to accept that some buyers are hard to work with, and give up on, or under-service those deals? I know you didn’t say that you would do that, but letting yourself believe that this is true, will automatically bias you. As salespeople, all we can control is what we can control. We can’t control HOW the buyer IS. But we CAN control how you work with, and deal with that buyer. And literally 99.94% of personalities can be controlled and sold to. You CAN learn how, there are literally skills and tools you can employ to control the process. Acknowledge that they are real and can be learned, and then focus on learning them. The rest is gravy.

HeStoleMyTwix

Valued Contributor

"And literally 99.94% of personalities can be controlled and sold to. You CAN learn how, there are literally skills and tools you can employ to control the process"

Can you share resources / learnings to better identify and work with different personalities?

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

VP of Sales

https://cardoneuniversity.com. Some people hate Grant, some people love him. I don’t agree with everything he says or does, but his sales content is phenomenal. There are other gurus, other instructors, but this is concentrated, centralized formal learning for sales. Free trial, $99 a month. Make the investment. Do a minimum of 15 videos a day for 6 months. Take basic notes as you watch- write down your takeaway bulletpoints. I recommend 6 points per video. Force yourself to find something to write. Watch your life change.

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

Grant is a douche.

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

VP of Sales

And there you have it 😂

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

I also think there are buyer types I personally work with better, but not universally easier oo sell to

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

I don’t think their personality has a lot to do with it but it is related to your ability to work with them. If you treat both of the above scenarios the same way you won’t be able to close them both the same way.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Exactly. We have to change and adapt with each buyer.

sales7

Politicker

Commercial Product Enablement

I think the personality will affect time taken to close more so if it'll happen or not. If you get someone with attitude try nip it in the bud early.
"Sounds like you're not a fan, should we leave it there?" Usually if they like it & just have tude it works to change the conversation

HeStoleMyTwix

Valued Contributor

I like that. A lot of people shy away from this direct confrontation but in the right setting (eg prospect is texting / web surfing etc) it worked to snap them back

sales7

Politicker

Commercial Product Enablement

exactly, it's just a bit of a shock to their system

youKNOW

Politicker

Sales Manager

For sure, buyer personality is an important factor. But, I think being more specific in your definition will help here.

How YOU work with different buyer personalities and get them headed in the direction of solidifying the deal is probably one of the most important factors.

In my mind, just saying that just the buyer is the differentiator removes the fact that 100% of the time, a common denominator in EVERY deal that you work on, is the fact that you are there...it's not the same buyer every time.

FeedTheKids

Politicker

Solutions Consultant

I say the ability to solve their problem outweighs their personality.

If someone in my office told me they lost a deal, I would say "what was there personality" I would ask about their main problems and then talk about how we fit in to solve them.

Generally speaking, in my experience the 5mil customer pays on time and is awesome to work with. The $500 client expects the world and complains during onboarding.

Not sure buyer personality has anything to do with it.

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HeStoleMyTwix

Buyer personalities and sales process

13 comments

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