Are you an amiable, expressive or analytic buyer?

Christmas shopping might be over, but there is a lot of shopping coming up in 2012. Do you sometimes wonder how a salesperson managed to convince you of buying a product you weren’t sure about before? The answer is easy: salespeople know how to place potential costumers into categories. To understand human behaviour is one feature of modern relationship selling when selling to a wide range of people. It is a fact that everyone buys differently. Let’s take a look at the different kinds of buyers from a salesperson’s perspective.

Do you buy slowly, quickly or even impulsively?

Some people prefer to buy quickly, others slowly. Some people need a lot of information and detail, for others a sheet of A4 with bullet points is all the information they need. Some buyers make purchases on impulse; others take their time and try to avoid risk. There are four basic styles of behaviour and these are determined by the way in which people relate to one another.

1. The analytical buyer

The analytical buyer likes to analyse things. They are into the detail and aren’t really interested in developing personal relationship with the seller. They ask technical questions and tend to buy slowly.

They are poor decision makers unless there is a clear and logical reason for choosing your solution. To sell to them you need to be more analytical yourself and match their behaviour. Prepare a logical case for choosing you over the competition. Give them evidence that your solution is best.

2. The amiable buyer

The amiable buyer is everyone’s friend. They are very sociable. They lack assertiveness and are easily manipulated. Unfortunately they are poor decision makers. They prefer to share the decision and therefore the risk by involving others.

Build a relationship with them. Become their friend and advisor. Match their behaviour, but understand that you may need to put them under a bit of pressure to get a decision.

3. The expressive buyer

The expressive buyer buys on impulse. Highly assertive and responsive they have a short attention span, but love being sold concepts and ideas. They buy quickly, but if you miss the opportunity to sell to them by being too slow they get bored and move on to another project.

They are flamboyant and use lots of hand gestures when talking. They will make a decision more quickly than any other buyer type. Match their behaviour and their enthusiasm. Look for your opportunity to close and go for it.

4. The driver

The driver is highly assertive but not responsive. This is the negotiator. The driver wants to be in charge and will try to take control of the meeting. Most salespeople are intimidated by drivers and try to make friends with them. Wrong!

To deal with a driver you need to become a driver yourself. Be a bit more serious. Make eye contact with them and don’t be intimidated by their manner. The driver drives a hard bargain so you need to be assertive when closing the sale. Close with confidence and aim high. The driver will respect you for it.

To sell to all these different buyer types you need to be able to adapt your selling behaviour and make the buying process easy for each type of buyer you come across.

If you are looking for further sales tips, read “Closing the sale” by Frank Atkinson.

Download “Closing the sale” right here