There are four personality types in the workplace. Understanding who you are selling to will make all the difference in your result.
Dominance/Doer
- Fast-paced speech
- Strong personality
- Impatient
- Direct
- Tries to control the situation
- Buys new and unique products and makes decisions quickly
- Loves change
- Drives fast and is always in a hurry
- Office – Status conscious, big desk, designed for efficiency
- Dresses formally to convey status
- Has many goals, usually high risk and not written down
- Reads execute ve book summaries and listen to audiobooks
- Posture – Forward leaning, hand in pocket
- Walk- Fast and always going somewhere
How to Improve Communication:
- Minimize features – maximize benefits
- Help them with details
- LISTEN
- Ask specific questions
- Keep the pace fast enough, so they don’t become bored
- Give them the “bottom “
- Stress fast and efficient, new and innovative
- Give direct answers
How to create tension:
- Over controlling the situation
- Telling them what to do
- Talking about things that are not relevant to the issue
- Appearing disorganized
- Overuse of gestures and emotion
- Not reacting quickly
Influencer/Talker
- Friendly and talkative
- Impulsive
- Uses many hand gestures while speaking
- Shows much emotion
- Imprecise about use of time
- Buys trendy or showy products impulsively
- May not notice a change
- Drives visually, looking around, with the radio on
- The office is decorated with memorabilia of experiences
- The dress is contemporary and stylish
- Not good at goalsetting -good intentions but no planning
- Reads fiction or self-improvement books or cookbooks
- Posture-Feet apart, both hands in pockets
- Walk-Meandering easily distracted to other destination
How to Improve Communication:
- Be friendly, not dominating
- Ask for their ideas and opinions
- Use testimonials
- Tell how others will benefit
- Control your impatience
- Use emotion
- Don’t dwell on details
- Provide a chance for them to verbalize
- Use gestures and body language
How to create tension:
- Over controlling
- Displaying your impatience
- Talking about yourself
- Not sharing information freely
- Not displaying a sense of urgency
- Not reacting quickly
- Too much attention to details
Steadiness/Pacer
- Patient
- Easy-going
- Unemotional voice
- Reserved
- Deliberate- methodical
- Buys traditional products and is a slow decision-maker
- Does not like change
- Drives at a relaxed pace, no hurry
- Office – Family snapshots, homey atmosphere, team photo
- Dresses casual in comfortable, old favorites
- Sets short-term, low-risk goals
- Reads fiction and fiction stories about people
- Posture-Leans back with hands in pockets
- Walk -At a steady, easy pace
How to Improve Communication:
- Listen patiently
- Take time to explain
- Develop more empathy and patience
- Exhibit a friendly attitude
- Slow down
- Control body language
- Speak with a sincere tone of voice
- Give direct answers
- Present in a logical order
How to create tension:
- Overselling or stressing new concepts or ideas
- Dominating with active body language
- Talking too much and not listening
- Not demonstrating personal attention
- Strong adherence to company rules
- Appearing to be cool and distant
Compliance/Controller
- Speaks slowly
- Asks many questions about facts and data
- Deliberates
- Uses few gestures
- Skeptical
- Suspicious
- Buys proven products and is a very slow decision-maker
- Concerned about the effects of change
- Drives carefully following rules
- Office – Graphs, charts, functional information
- Dresses meticulously
- Good at setting goals in many areas
- Reads nonfiction and technical manuals
- Posture -Arms folded one hand on chin
- Walks in a straight line
How to Improve Communication:
- Be diplomatic and courteous
- Avoid criticism of their work
- Give assurances of correct answers
- Don’t ask too many personal questions
- Avoid sudden, abrupt changes
- Slow down and LISTEN
- Explain details
- Answer questions precisely
- Minimize risks
- Be conservative in assertions
- Be sincere -lower your tone of voice
How to create tension:
- Being too blunt and direct
- Forcing them to take risks
- inability to prove what you say
- Overconvincing
- Slow response time to their needs
Want to Learn More?
If you are wondering how you can find out what personality type you are working with, contact us today and we will get you started on a DISC assesment.
