High-S and High-C Sales People

If you have a high-S or high-C in your behavioral style, then success for you will depend on 2 very similar things.  It’s all about planning and preparation.  For the high-S, the key to success is in the process.  For the high-C, the key to success is planning your work and then working your plan.

The High-S Sales Person:

You do 3 things really well.  First, you are great at building relationships.  Given at face value that’s a really good thing because that is exactly what our business is all about these days.  The downside of that natural strength is that you may have a tendency to go to 6 meetings with a prospect before you feel comfortable enough with the relationship to ask for the order.  

Second, you are great at following a process.  Therefore, everything you do from the time you get to work in the morning to the time you turn out the light and head home in the evening, everything in between should be part of a process.  Generating prospects should be part of the process.  Asking for the order should be part of the process.  Also, think of your business as a process involving one person at a time.  You work your process down to asking for the order.  Then, whether they say yes or no, you move your process along to the next person.

Third, because you are so good at building relationships and following a process, you will provide better service to your clients than anyone else in the business.  It’s what you do.  And this can really hold you back.  It will be difficult for you to not provide good service to someone.  As a result, you can end up with 600 accounts and only 15 of them be worth anything.  You can end up giving great service to people that really don’t deserve it.  And this will keep you from having the time to go out and get 15 more valuable clients.  

If your business isn’t working for you, or if you aren’t doing the level of business that you think you should be doing, then there is something wrong with your plan.  Take some time off.  Get away from the office.  Lay your plan out and take it apart piece by piece.  Find the piece that has broken down and fix it, change it, improve it, or whatever you need to do to make it work.  Then put your plan back together.  Go back to the office and start implementing your plan again.

The High-C Sales Person:

Your strategy should be to Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan.  You will be best at selling facts and data.  You are self-disciplined and very structured in your use of time.  

You are an excellent planner since your basic nature is to do your homework, check the process along the way, and double-check your answer.

If the business isn’t working for you, employ the same strategy as the high-S because more than likely there is something wrong with the plan.  Break it down and analyze it.  Find the broken part, repair it, and then go back to work.

You need to guard against “analysis paralysis.”  Your need to be 100% correct can seriously impede your performance.  Sometimes getting close is better than not getting there at all.  Don’t spend so much time analyzing that the opportunity is lost.   

Products and Services:  S’s and C’s both do well with the same types of products and services.  You should be most effective when you can sell a process.  Financial planning, annuities, mutual funds, managed money, bonds, and insurance products, these are all products and services that will help you control or limit risk for your clients.  In addition, they are all, usually, long-term types of investments.

HAVE YOURSELF A GREAT DAY!

Ron Keese