There are four types of buyers in the marketplace today.
These are the same four buyers that existed yesterday.
And these are the same four buyers that will exist tomorrow, and the next day,...
How do I know?
Because this type of human understanding dates back to at least the Greek physician Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC), a.k.a. "The Father of Medicine."
The same guy who gave the medical profession the Hippocratic Oath.
Back in the day Hippocrates described the four temperaments as part of the ancient medical concept of humorism, and some psychological personality type systems use categories similar to the Greek temperaments to this very day. (Thanks Wikipedia.)
In a nutshell they are:
- Fast Freddie: The blowin' and goin' buyer who loves shiny things, will buy it because it's new and moves on, never to know you, your face, your company name or where you are located.
- Seemore: The anal-retentive, read-the-manual type that wants to know how it's made, the warranty options and exclusions, the shipping options, your carbon footprint, your EPS, EBITDA and ISO numbers, are you OSHA compliant and can you answers all of those questions on the first email. (It pains me to even type about that dude!)
- Emotional Emily: The emotional buyer who will buy for a good cause or because they like you or because the mood hit them.
- Steady-Eddie: the buyer who looks for stability, relationships, and longevity.
Sidebar: what I just did was create simple buyer personas, virtual people with real characteristics that helps you understand and visualize these prospects so you can formulate a plan to attract, bond, convert, deliver, and endear yourself to them. (ABCDE Sales & Marketing)
Want to learn how to create effective buyer personas quickly and easily? Click below.
As humans selling to humans, you and I naturally connect with one of those types of buyers because it's how we buy.
Related Articles:
That's why roughly 28% of all RFPs are won because the human race is pretty much equally divided between these four types and you win the order from the person with whom you most closely connect.
To double your sales you don't have to learn to connect with the entire human race.
Just connect with another 25% of them, which is easier to do than you might think IF you are willing to become just ever-so-slightly more like the read-the-manual type.
But don't freak out.
All you have to do to greatly increase your chances of closing a sale is have an agenda for every meeting. (Would you like to see my one-page Sales Agenda Template?)
"An agenda? What are you talking about, Wes?"
Great question.
Here's how this plays out.
When the prospect says they would like to meet you ask them, "In order to make the best use of our time, wouldn't it make sense for us to set an agenda for our meeting?"
The prospect will reply by saying "of course."
You then review, verbally, the agenda for the meeting and ask them if that makes sense, to which they will reply that it does.
You follow that up with an email that includes the agenda as an attachment.
When you arrive for the meeting you have the agenda printed and distribute copies to everyone in attendance.
You then ask everyone to review the agenda and ask them if that is indeed what was agreed upon for the meeting.
Everyone will agree and the meeting will begin.
To see the sales agenda template I use check out this blog post.
Or just contact me and we'll set a time to speak.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.
