Understand Behaviours and Grow your Sales

General Theory

The DISC profile is an accurate personality analysis that can be used to predict the behaviour of individuals. Whether they be on their own or with others. It can help you to place the right person in your business, working in an environment that suits them. However the DISC is not infallible. It has its limitations. Where it can fall down is due to the fact that people are never just one personality. They are all a combination of the four, just in different ratios. Everyone is dominant in one with usually another trait closely following it. The DISC analysis is a guide to show you the relative strengths you have in each of the four areas. The one that you score the highest in will be your dominant trait, which will be the one that describes you best below.

Where the information below isn’t always accurate is when you have become aware of your personality eccentricities and have moved to improve these traits. The higher the strength shown from the test when graphed for the personality the more the descriptions below will fit you. Don’t use this as gospel to label peoples traits. Use it as a guide to helping them and communicating with them. Everyone has weaknesses and this is meant to be a guide to them. If a person is happy as they are then that’s great.

If you read the traits below you will start to understand how other people think of you when they associate with you. Again this isn’t always true. With all knowledge should come wisdom, which is knowing the best time and best way to use the knowledge and I hope you always remember this when reading and learning more about people.

A simple test to determining the DISC profile

A simple test to use to tell what personality a person is, is to ask yourself, is this person more outgoing or reserved normally? By asking this question you will know if they are a high D or high I as both of these people are generally outgoing by nature. Reserved people are generally either a high S or high C.

Then ask yourself, is this person more people orientated or task orientated. This will come by experience and thinking about different people as you learn more about the DISC profiles. If you feel that a person is happier working on things that hanging around with people then they will be task orientated or a high D or high C. If a person you know is happier being with people or they have a friendly nature and are likeable then they are probably people orientated or a high S or high I.

By asking yourself these two questions of everyone you think of, you can have a good guess as to what personality they are. Roles and environments change people so you need to keep this in mind. A person in a work environment will quite often be different to a person at home. So it can be hard to guess what DISC personality a person is because it could change between the two places.

Selling to a High I

To sell to a high I you need to win them over and be their friend. If you don’t show that you care about them or that you like them they won’t want to buy from you. You need to show that you have a sense of humour, are a fun loving person and that you are having fun talking to them right now. You can work on being a little bit stern but not too serious.

High I’s want to do what seems popular. They don’t want to do anything that seems like detailed work that will take lots of their time. If it seems boring to them they won’t want it. The best line you can say to them is it will be a lot of fun.

They will buy from people who seem to have the same nature as them. So be happy, be spontaneous and not rehearsed. Talk about other things apart from what you are selling them on. Get chatty at the start during the middle and the end of the selling process. They will sometimes want to go off on a tangent.

Let them do most of the talking. They love to talk. They love to talk about anything especially other people. Be their friend and advise them on what you think and feel is the best for them. Be sincere. Be like them and they will love you.

If you’re selling to a high D don’t talk too much. Let them decide they want it and that it seems like a popular idea and makes sense. High D’s need to be friendlier than they usually are when selling to them. The best way to put it is that you can’t be too friendly with a high I. As long as you are sincere. They are people people and know a lot about people skills and they won’t like you if you are fake.

High I’s are prone to exaggerate. They like to tell stories and you can too to sell to them but tell them if you are exaggerating.

Selling to a High D …

High D’s like to be leaders. They like to do what no one else is doing. They like to be innovated pioneers. The best way to sell to them is to say, this is what you need to be more productive, profitable, successful and a leader of others.

Respect them and never make them feel inferior. They need to respect the sales person. Most importantly, they need to be confident that you can deliver what you say. They need to be given the facts and reasons. Also don’t try and be too friendly with them.

They will be wanting the short version on any features. They don’t need details, in fact going over details annoys them. Give a brief outline of different things showing the logic of it all. They want to be productive so tell them that what you have will help that cause. Tell them they will be more successful using your service or item. That’s what they want to know. Give them better solutions or ways to do things, be blunt if you have to, they don’t mind too much and they don’t care but only if they have your respect.

Selling to a High S.

They are harder to sell to than the high D or I. They like to be steady in their decision making. They don’t like to rush anything so they like to take their time in making a decision. They don’t like pressure or pushy people. You need to be their friend and build genuine rapport with them. Be reserved like they are. Be casual. Outline what you want them to buy then give details as well. Give them data to make a decision and tell them they need to make a decision soon. Don’t expect quick decisions though. Explain at the start that if you can give them everything they want and expect today, and you both agree it’s the best thing for you then you’ll outline the steps to get the process under way. Then say is it okay if we do that? Get them to commit to making a decision today at the start if you can. Sometimes a high S won’t make a decision at all on the day. If that is the case be aware that it often happens. So give them some time and get back to them the next day and say you will contact them. Be firm in wanting a decision soon or today but not pushy.

Be reserved like they are. High S doesn’t like change so tell them your product won’t involve any major changes, it will all go together very well. Tell them it’s a nice slow process, if you can.

Give them plenty of eye contact. Build rapport, be their friend.

Selling to a High C

Selling to a high C can be challenging. A high C can be very skeptical of anyone that says they have something that they’ll need, because they often feel that what they already have is good. They can often resist change because they have their own way of doing things. They won’t consider making a buying decision unless the facts are shown, are valid and there are lots of them.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time with them. They will ask a hundred questions and procrastinate because their mind is thinking, have I covered every detail I need to know about? They will be cautious of sales people. Mainly because they have found how to do things without anyone’s help and a new system will mean they need to relearn. They’re much happier doing what they already know how to do.

They aren’t overly friendly like the high I and high S. You can’t just tell them that they need your item like the high D. They only want one thing, data. So give them as much data as you can. In graph form, table from, written form, essay from. You can’t give a high C too much data to consider. They like to justify by logic. They don’t care if you are their best friend or seem to be. They consider always consider the facts first.

Don’t expect a high C to make a quick decision. They like time to think. So give it to them. Talk about facts backed up by logic. Get back to them another day only if you say I’ve given you everything you need to make a decision so can I call you tomorrow at… to see where we are at.

They are confident in their own abilities and are used to relying on making their own decisions. They will talk confident because they have a lot of knowledge and are proud of it. If you tell them you have a way of helping them do things better and more efficiently you will get their attention and possibly the sale, eventually. Anything that improves their standards or efficiency they will love. Say to them, you’ll be able to do … even better with this.

We have shown you how knowing personality traits can be useful when selling to your clients. These behavioural analyses can also be used as a tool to understand your staff members better. How they operate. Why they act the way they do, and how to communicate effectively with them.