7 Reasons Why Personality Matters in Sales

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Nate Regier / 1 comments
Share via

How quickly can you assess the personality of a prospect in real-time? How well do you adapt your sales strategy for their personality? Did you know that personality impacts seven critical areas of buying behavior and decision-making, and that it’s possible to figure this out within minutes of meeting someone?

Personality is all of these things

  • Perceptual filters: How you take in and process the world around you.
  • Communication preferences: How you like to exchange with others.
  • Environmental preferences: How you prefer to interact with the world around you.
  • Motivational Needs: How you are motivated and what fills your tank.
  • Character Strengths: Your natural capabilities, those things you love to do and come more easily.
  • Distress behaviors: How we go about getting negative attention when our motivational needs aren’t met positively.
  • Emotional triggers: Emotional issues that are more difficult for us to deal with authentically. Those things we would prefer to avoid or make disappear. They keep us up at night.

Why Personality Matters In Sales:

  1. Prospects “hear” you more clearly when it’s delivered through their favorite perceptual filter. How you say something is often more important than what you say. Matching your prospect’s perceptual filter is the best way to build rapport. There are six different perceptions, detectable through words and non-verbals.
  2. Prospects stay engaged when you use their favorite communication style. Miscommunication invites mistrust and disengagement.
  3. Meeting prospects “where they are at” means attending to their favorite environmental preference. Are you creating a space where they are comfortable?
  4. Prospects are far more likely to buy when they can use their character strengths. They are more able to see themselves using your product or service if means they can use their strengths in the process.
  5. Prospects are more likely to buy your stuff if it fills their tank, and if you fill their tank in every interaction. Motivational needs are huge drivers of buying behavior.
  6. When prospects are in distress, they show one of six predictable behavioral sequences. Here are three of them: 1) Start asking complicated questions and focus on faults instead of benefits; 2) Can’t seem to understand and disengage; 3) Get passive and agreeable but will disappear the first chance they get. Do you want that? If not, meet their motivational needs proactively and positively. Because if you don’t you’ll be chasing dead-ends all day.
  7. If your sales strategy involves finding and addressing pain points, then the emotional trigger is your holy grail. When you can present a product that soothes the emotional trigger, you’ve got their attention. If you can help the prospect deal more effectively with that trigger, you’ve just differentiated.

Personality-based sales intelligence equips you to a) rapidly assess your prospect in real-time, b) adapt your communication to build rapport, and c) position your product fit into their personality. If your model isn’t helping you do these things, maybe it’s time for an upgrade. You can do all of this with the Process Communication Model. We’ll teach you how.


Learn how personality applies to Customer Service and Patient Care as well.


Book Your Next Keynote Speaker

Dr. Nate Regier

Author and Co-founder of Next Element, Dr. Nate Regier is available to speak at your upcoming event.

Submit a Speaker Request

Podcast: Listen to Nate "On Compassion"

On Compassion with Dr. Nate Listen to the Podcast

Join Our Community

Want To Republish Our Posts?

1 Comments

Photo of Duane A. Graham
Duane A. Graham
Posted on February 20, 2019

Excellent Nate. All your comments are even applicable to every day living. Every day we should practice our salesmanship skills. I’ve long thought that engineers, accountants, all types of professionals should include at least one semester of classes in salesmanship. Every manager should study salesmanship. D

Photo of Nate Regier
Nate Regier
Posted on March 8, 2019

Thanks Duane!

Leave comment for this reply

Add comment

Your comment will be revised by the site if needed.

Leave comment for this reply

Add comment

Your comment will be revised by the site if needed.

Add comment

Your comment will be revised by the site if needed.