Finding Your Personal Selling Style
What is your approach to selling?
If you’re applying for a job in sales, you could be asked a question like this during the interview process. What makes you stand out from the crowd may be how you react, how well you know your style, and your natural abilities. However, you must first discover your own specific selling style before you can express it.
Why is it crucial to understand what kind of salesperson you are?
Thousands and thousands of salespeople are hitting their targets without giving a second thought about how they sell. But this is a blunder! You become uncomfortable and less productive when you operate outside of your primary selling style (whether consciously or unknowingly). You run the risk of being unsuccessful if you do this on a regular basis.
From behind, a group of business people and a man facing the camera are separated.
Regardless of the selling time, location, or product, the selling style is a reasonably stable reflection of what your natural instincts are with a consumer, from introduction to close. It’s how you make a link with your client. Your decisions have an impact on how the consumer reacts. Selling becomes simpler and more successful when you discover and create the right selling style for you. You’ll be more conscious of your own style and able to adapt it more easily depending on the situation, making you more successful in achieving your objectives.
What are the four types of sales?
There are two styles of salespeople in the world: aggressive salespeople that make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen, and reactive or passive salespeople that normally wait for the customer to make the first step. Hunters or Farmers are the names given to proactive salespeople, while Shopkeepers or Repairman are the names given to reactive salespeople.
The Pursuer
The Hunter thrives on exploring new possibilities, breaking down barriers, and looking for the next big break. They are often looking ahead for what’s next, even at the cost of an opportunity that is right in front of their eyes. They succeed in quantity rather than consistency. With that said, because of their “go get ’em” attitude, they are the best kind to have around when your sales funnel is clean.
Aggressive, determined, highly concentrated, and self-assured are just a few of the Hunter’s descriptive adjectives. They may become so preoccupied with their own agenda that they lose sight of what is best for their customers. Hunters may seem disorganized, but they dislike paperwork and keeping accurate records, leaving managers in the dark about their success.
Hunters aren’t known for being overly inventive, preferring to stick to tried-and-true methods of generating revenue. In their attempts to close a deal, they are brazen, decisive, and open.
The Landlord
When farmers sustain or nurture accounts or opportunities, they prosper. They’re set up for the long run, generating long-term revenue from current accounts. They appear to go all out whenever they get a sales lead, and they often go out of their way to help their customers because they genuinely believe in keeping a valuable relationship.
When sales are harder to come by, farmers prefer to whine or wish away their days in the hopes of better sales. Rather than getting their hands dirty and making something happen, they choose to simply wait it out. They would prefer to focus on sustaining relationships with their existing marginal accounts rather than starting something new.
Farmers, unlike Hunters, are very inventive when it comes to persuading customers to purchase. They offer engaging and creative presentations.
The Retailer
Shopkeepers have a cheerful demeanor and enjoy assisting customers. They aren’t detectives, so they won’t try to figure out what a prospect really wants. A Shopkeeper, on the other hand, is the ideal person to help a prospect find what they’re looking for if they already know what they’re looking for. Helping others is a strong suit of mine!
The Shopkeeper selling style is defined by adjectives such as pleasant, service-oriented, and hospitable. They are people pleasers who, to an unhealthy degree, believe they must be liked and admired by their prospects. Shopkeepers are ideally suited for inside sales because they have a more introverted personality. They prefer to respond to others rather than initiate first contact.
Shopkeepers don’t want to be seen as rude or pushy because of their friendly demeanor. They prefer to wait for a customer to purchase rather than force a deal, making closing difficult for them.
The Mechanic
Repairmen, as the name suggests, are usually professional in nature. Although they are extremely useful as a technological resource, they are rarely effective salespeople. This is because they are most effective when speaking with others in their field, which is usually engineers, accountants, computer analysts, or other technical professionals. Speaking with someone who shares their interests allows them to show their superior technological abilities and “repair” the other person’s issue.
A sale can result if a Repairman interacts with another technical individual (though it is not guaranteed.) If they’re dealing with a non-technical person, however, they’re more than likely speaking in a different language and aren’t on the same page, which usually leads to a no-sale.
While a Repairman can be trained to be a salesperson, it is important to keep in mind that this is outside of their comfort zone. They don’t think they need to market the commodity because of its technological supremacy.
Types of Sales: Primary and Secondary
As the name suggests, most salespeople spend the majority of their time in their primary sales mode, which is where they feel most at ease. A person’s secondary sales mode is something of a contingency mode, one that a salesperson is unlikely to use unless there is a compelling reason to do so. If an individual hasn’t found or established a secondary sales form, no amount of external incentive can persuade them to change their selling style.
Where do you perform best? Where do you feel most at ease? Everyone has their own selling style; it’s up to you to figure out what yours is and how to use it to your advantage. Find out which style, or combination of styles, fits you best, and then go for it!
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