When it comes to communicating with prospects and clients what is your greatest challenge? Is it getting to the truth? Getting them to see the value you are offering? While these may be challenges the greatest for most entrepreneurs is: The illusion that communication actually took place.

From phone conversations and written correspondence to face-to-face meetings, your ability to know the appropriate way to communicate with your prospects and clients can either accelerate or slow down the growth of your business.

Consider the comment from legendary sales professional and entrepreneur, Charles Schwab, who said, “Selling successfully in the 21st Century, you don’t sell the way you want to sell. Sell the way your customers want to buy.”

Underscoring Schwab’s statement are the results from a series of recent surveys and studies that indicated sales professionals who sell the way their prospects want to buy were 12-times more productive than their competitors and colleagues. For complex sales solutions, such as pharmaceutical, technology, insurance and financial investments, these same studies found that the professionals who catered to their customer’s preferred communication style were not only in the top 1% of sales but were 127% more productive than the average performers.

Making Sales Easier

Identifying customer behaviors and communicating with customers the way they would like to be communicated with is nothing new. In fact, you do it every day. But when you have an easy and defined process to do this, and you’re consciously aware of doing it, you’re able to consistently replicate your success.

To make things easy to use and remember, especially when the pressure is turned up, Selling In Color uses Dr. Carl Jung’s four-color process and anchors it to the primary way customers want to be sold to. While it’s true we each possess all four colors all of the time, we each have at least one or two dominant preferred methods of communicating and connecting with others that we inherently operate from.

Knowing your customer’s primary buying and selling preferences places you in an excellent position to tap into and unlock the code to what drives and motivates them to make buying decisions. It also opens up the conversation and allows for a much more rich and deeper level of communication between you and your prospect/customer.

The ability to identity and connect with your customer’s buying and selling preferences isn’t simply used for face to face communication. It is essential for emotionally connecting with your audience via all forms of marketing, from your website and brochures to direct mail and online marketing. For this reason, one of the primary tools we use for designing your brand, writing your copy and developing your marketing campaigns is the four-color process and our seven step sales system.

Drivers (RED)

“The Drivers” are customers which we will identify by the color RED.

These customers want to eliminate wasteful conversation, cut to the chase and clearly know what you will do for them. They are very direct in their language and mannerisms. Less concerned with personal relationships, they are focused on what you can do to positively impact their bottom line. The key theme for marketing to and selling these type of customers is to cut the chase, let them know what you will do for them right away and then allow them room to make a decision, which they usually do rather quickly.

While prospects and customers with high RED characteristics can be found at all levels of a company, more times than not these characteristics are common with highly driven business owners and upper management, director or senior executive level within larger companies.


Analyzers (BLUE)

“The Analyzers” are customers which we will identify by the color BLUE.

These customers are detailed and systematic individuals whose preferred decision making style is based on their principles and solid, logic facts. They are persistent and often times relentless with their questions. Wary about gaining any value from investments in new products or services, and being problem solvers by nature, their tendency toward perfectionism can often times lead to what is known as "paralysis by over-analysis."

If your primary audience is made up of customers with high BLUE characteristics, your marketing efforts should be focused on providing solid facts to back up any claims you’re making. Case studies, statistics, audio testimonials, white papers, special reports and return on investment scenarios are all excellent strategies and tactics for appealing to the innate qualities that drive BLUE customers to make the decisions they do.

These type of customers can usually be found in IT departments, management, operations and finance. These characteristics are also frequently found in consultants.


Relationship Builders (GREEN)

“Relationship Builders” are customers which we will identify by the color GREEN.

These customers are caring, warm and very supportive. Their high level of empathy makes them the second most people-oriented of all decision makers. They are highly prone to avoid conflict and some of the customers you deal with who fall into this category may come across as non-threatening.

They are excellent listeners and can be devoted and loyal customers. Once they feel they have been taken advantage of and/or not acknowledged, they can become the most difficult customer you will ever encounter. They will not always open up right away. If your audience is primarily made up of these type of customers, or you have a marketing campaign focusing on this segment of your audience, so make sure your campaigns and selling style is genuinely friendly, empathetic, balanced and sincere.

As much as it is with any customer you deal with, it’s very important to recognize what causes customers with high GREEN characteristics to experience stress when being sold to. As we mentioned earlier, when they feel slighted or manipulated in any way, they will turn on you and your company. So reach out and give them what they want. Honesty, sincerity and value.


The Engagers (YELLOW)

“The Engagers” are customers which we will identify by the color YELLOW.

What would the sales process be like without customers with YELLOW engaging, highly energetic traits? Boring. These customers are enthusiastic, charming, persuasive and can even be inspiring. They are the single most people-orientated customers you will encounter. By nature, they talk very fast, like to joke and are prone to exaggeration. Sounds a lot like a sales person, right?

Well, it is true that many sales professionals and entrepreneurs exhibit a high level of YELLOW characteristics. While that means there can be a meeting of the minds between salespeople and a customer with high YELLOW characteristics, this commonality can also create un-necessarily long sales cycles. The reason is that if you are not organized with this type of customer not only can you find yourself way off track, but this type of customer needs to be held accountable. If you’re not keeping them to their word, it’s not unlike them to forget what they said or dismiss it.

For example, these type of customers are prone to embellish. You ever hear the phrase, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story?” Well, that applies to them. This often times causes people trying to sell to this type of customer to scramble for the truth, leading to confusion and distraction in the sales process. The key to working with customers with YELLOW characteristics is to make sure you’re energetic, creative, organized and above all, make them the STAR. You should do this with every customer you communicate with but it’s even more so with these folks. As for your marketing, if they are your primary customer type, be sure that your marketing is creative, bold, high energy and tells a good story.

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Fun, Simple, Powerful & Profitable

Knowing what you now do about the four basic personality types of decision makers, take a moment to consider a recent situation where your perception of a prospect or client held you back and limited the relationship.
What led to this situation? Were there confusing personality clues? What were the ramifications of misreading this customer – for you – for the prospect/client – for your company?

Based on what you have learned, what color/personality would you see this prospect or client as? Knowing your own preferred style of communicating and selling, what would you do differently the next time you encounter a prospect or client like this, in order to achieve a better outcome?

Knowing both you and your client’s preferred methods of communicating and decision making style will place you in an excellent position to not only unlock the keys to what drives and motivates you to make the decisions you do but also what drives and motivates your prospects and clients to make the decisions they do.

Having this knowledge and putting it to use in your company’s marketing campaigns and your face to face selling of customers opens the doors for greater rapport and interpersonal empowerment with your target audience, while dramatically improving your company’s growth.

Marketing and selling isn’t always easy or fun. However, having a defined sales process and knowing how to better communicate and adapt to the diverse customer personalities you interact with not only eliminates the pressure normally associated with marketing and selling, but makes the process more fun, simple, powerful and profitable.

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Take the Guesswork out of Selling and Have Selling In Color Customize a Sales Enhancement Training Program for Your Sales Team!

Is Selling In Color right for your sales team? Find out and learn how Selling In Color has been customized for sales teams throughout North America and Europe. To schedule a sales enhancement training program for you company call 877.843.7538 or email.