In this episode, we take a deeper dive into how each DISC personality profile communicates and how you can improve your conversation with them. We also talk about secondary profiles, how really bad days can make it harder to determine personality, and how to dig deeper to find that out.
The art of selling is all about great communication.
Each profile has specific ways they interpret and open up to different communication styles. That's what makes learning as much as you can about each profile so important. When you understand a style different than your own, it's easier to adapt for a smoother, more lucrative conversation.
The other important aspect of DISC that we cover in this episode is that most people have secondary profiles. Ones that they slide to under different circumstances. Navigating the difference between misidentifying a profile and them having a bad day can turn around a failing conversation if you're able to catch it.
So check out this week's episode for a deeper dive into communicating with each DISC profile.
If you don't know where you are on the DISC personality spectrum, or you don't know how to identify other people's profiles, shoot us an email to DISC@salesthrowdown.com. We'll give you more information on taking a full assessment and what those results can teach you.
And please leave us a review and let us know what you think! We read and appreciate every single one!
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Let's get ready to Throwdown!
Welcome to Sales Throwdown, everybody, we are back. We're all finishing up our weeks. And we are here to talk about how to communicate with these different people than the different personality types when we run into different things that we run into, right? Because the whole reason that we're here is to learn about ourselves. But that way, we can also have better conversations with other people who are not like us. And so we thought that we would talk about some things that we all run into and how we handle that and how we would adjust it for the different people that you're going to be running into, I's versus D's versus S's versus C's. And I think Al has got a jumping off point for us about something he deals with on a regular basis. You have anything like that, Al?
Well, it's not not exactly a jumping off, but I think it's for me, it's a pretty straight equation. Whenever you're like, I'm a little diagram here, nothing fancy, you know, I put the four quadrants up. And then I think about what should my verbiage contain? Whenever I talk to a C versus a D versus an I versus an S, right? And I think the words you choose invoke a reaction from your audience, right? Or whoever you're trying to do business with, or get anywhere with in a sales conversation. So I'll run it out to you pretty quickly here. So if I'm talking to Clint, I'm going to ask Clint, right being a D. What are your thoughts? What are your suggestions? What would you do if you were me? Right, because Clint has very high self esteem. He wants to get in and tell you what his his thought process is. You know, in any given equation. So go looking with hat in hand, Clint, man, I'm struggling with this, or I'm a little uncertain about this, what would you do? Right? We'll keep it there. Now, if I was going over to Nan, I would be, Nannette, I need your help on something. I'm struggling with this. How can you help me in this process of getting down the road or through the door or this piece of paperwork or this p o or this contract? Right? You How will you help me or can you help me? Which opens her emotional juices to wow somebody is in need. And I can be of assistance right, which is is a fulfilling act for nets, right? giving, giving me his opinion fulfills his need in this whole conversation, right. So now If I'm talking to you, John, what I want to know is can you help me understand this process? Or, you know, Can Can you? Can you help me with this data? I'm stuck here, right? And I pose it as like a question of data, a question of a process, or what's my next step? I've gone this far, John. You know, how do you see me getting further along in this process? Right. Should I keep it that simple on all those three levels? Now with an I it is, I need your help. You've got some special traits that I'd like using the word like, of course, to get your input on.
Gotta be stroked. Yeah,
That's legit. Like I might be that Yeah. Alright guys, see you next week. Oh, that was awesome.
Around everything.
Holy Shit. That was I mean, because like I saw Clint smiling whenever you're talking about how you would talk to him, so but I feel like you hit mine, like really dead on. If you show up and you're like, hey, John, you have any thoughts on how to do this? All? I can't wait. I can't wait to tell you all of them.
Right. But but but here's the deal. It's It's It's imperative that you use choice words, for sure. Like with each one of these that really resonate with them, and get their emotional juices pumping in your direction. Right?
Yeah. So I add to that just a little bit, you know, what you're saying is 100% correct. There's another portion of that though, is how long you drag some of those words out. Like for me, it's to the point, right, so don't tell me a story about how you like my expertise, and you need my help and all this stuff, right? Because I'm already checking out like, this guy's trying to sell me. But if you get to the point quick, like, Hey, man, I'm stuck. I need your help. You know, what can you do? And you know, give me your expertise. I'm all in right but five words too many. I'm out. Right And that's, that's my personality, right?
Is there so so Clint, you know, when you're when you're being pitched, you know, and you're seeing all this stuff like, do you ever, like think or notice that people are trying to shift towards a D state so that way they can have better conversations with you?
Yeah. And I think it's usually when I stay quiet because I do that a lot, right? I just listen and and I noticed I do this motion a lot as I'm on the phone with people like come on, dude, just come on. Because like, I've got things to do, and you're trying to sell it and maybe I need your stuff. But Dude, I don't have a half hour to listen to how, you know, you're the greatest in the world and all this good. Just tell me what you provide and get to the point. But there is a point that I think when I'm silent and I'm just, you know, one worded answers. Yeah, come on, you know, what do you what do you what do you sell and I think they they sense that and they have to ship I forced the hand right? Because they instantly feel like the call is not going well. If they only knew That's just my personality, right? So it's a shift for me to make it comfortable. But it's also, you know, I'm forcing their hand because they're not aware to do it themselves. So I have to force it in a conversation. And if you're aware of it, you know, because I do it on the phone when I'm talking to somebody, and I hear those quick jabs, those one words. You know, I just get to the point like, Hey, man, I've got 10 minutes let's get through this if you if you don't mind spending 10 minutes with me, let's go. Right versus telling storytime and getting through which is totally doable with an I and an S, right let's let's have some Hey, man, I was golfing this weekend. You know, I shot 300 par, can you believe it? And then we get to work like there you can do that with certain personalities, which is what we're talking about. When
Well, go ahead, John.
Well, I was gonna say how do you know like, like, Is it just about being succinct when you're talking to a D? You know, because like you're talking about keeping it short and keeping it to the point, and
These are, yeah, these are very moody to you know, so emotionally driven very, very, and I don't say that as if all of us are a little emotionally driven, but we're hot or cold, very, you know very easily is. I'm either pissed off at the world and you got 10 seconds to get this out or I'm done with you, or you catch me on a really good day where I'm just everything is going right. And we can talk for hours on the phone, and we can have storytime but I met that emotional up and down, you know, just in high grade.
I think D's and I's are like that. I think that's very, very typical. And I think C's and S's are just pretty much even keel across the board, just you know, there's not a lot of variance in their in their emotions. That's a good point.
And I agree with you, Nan, like S's, you know, we always you know, I just always think you guys are so positive right most S's I've ever met always look at the brighter side of things. And D's commonly get, and C's, we kind of get looked at as the negative side a little bit. What's funny is is that I's float both ways. I've noticed that I have an I on my team super I could could spend an eight hour day telling you a story and and get nothing done and go home and feel satisfied. But he is a very negative outlook type of person. He's not a Debbie Downer by any means. But everything is he's an I that likes to tell stories. And he's that kind of an I but he's also negative I. So it's a weird it's a weird synopsis where most I's that you meet are the positives. Yeah, very optimistic. So I see I's float both ways as probably as much as a D does. But it's interesting.
Well, what when and when you say float, I think this comes up to like volatility, right capacity to change pretty quickly, one direction or the other because because of events or levels of frustration, but yeah, I think that if you're on the phone, You got to pick this up pretty quickly. Because it's easy to disengage in a phone call, right? Like you said, when people get on the phone with you, you know, you're trying to shut them down because you don't have anything that it's sort of like you got a little distance between you and you can do that. So for the audience out there, you know, whenever you really dig into these, these personalities, dig into them both on the positive and the negative, right, you know, what's a good day for, for for a D, what's a bad day for a D? I think with a D, you know, pretty quickly right now, and you know, it's pretty blunt. Wherever the other three of us may kind of be able to you may be able to get us upscale from where we're at, with a D it's gonna be harder to move that needle. I really do think it is and you got to let them move it themselves. Right. Yeah.
And yeah, and and I think too, like when I even when I talked to John, you know, I can I can always sense when he's having a downer day versus an up day, but I have to dig so hard to get that out of him because social aspect is not, there just dumping his feelings out on people, right? So you got to dig harder on a C, you can probably sense it, but you're not gonna like it. Like if you asked me every good day or bad day, within a split second, I'm going to answer that question. And you're gonna know, and it's always bad, some people feel that way. If you ask, I'm gonna tell you. It's brutal honest for the D right but with with a C, I've always noticed you got to really dig in. And sometimes they just it's not the day to dump right it's like you got to let them come to you type of thing. So yeah, man, every personality just has this, this equation that no, it's not an exact science, but there's definitely things that can help you get there a lot quicker, which is what we're talking about.
Well in you know, you said something a minute ago that I am gonna try to like keep hold of right and think about a lot because I've never really heard it talked about this way. But you said something a second ago, this this high, this high on your team can spend all day talking to one person about one story. And they leave the work feeling satisfied. Right?
Feeling like they accomplished something.
Yeah. And I think that that is so important, right? Because like, like in my world of like helping people set up KPIs and looking for the blind spots and stuff like this, people struggle with this idea of the fact that like, I am wired so differently than the Al is right? You know, we're polar opposites on this range, right? So the things that I love to do, are going to be things that are going to be a struggle for him, right. And so in some instances and vice versa, but like, what happens is you can tell yourself anything, and you know what, today was a good day, okay, based upon what? You know? How do you know?
And you could...
That's a great point. That is a great point because you're exactly right, you know, you can come to me and say, Well, what makes it so good, and I'd be like, I don't know, it just felt good. It just was good.
Everybody laughed at my jokes today, everybody laughed at every joke I said, it's a it's a home run. I don't need anything else.
Nobody slapped me today.
Because Because before you guys got on here, you know, when it was just me and John, we were talking, talking about our day and, you know, John said, it's a great day this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened. That's like, that's a C in a nutshell, right? They're going up or down emotionally doesn't matter, but he's going to tell you every nuance of how it happened and bullet point.
Okay, that, okay, that brings up a great point. So for the audience, when you hear people using data to show their emotional IQ, right, right, or their emotional status, then, you know,
They only exist in one corner.
They give it to you. Yeah, exactly. They will give you all the information. You've just got to know what to be looking for. When you have a conversation with somebody, right? And when And then you can begin to really dig into how far because remember, there's a box, how far in that corner is that individual, right? Because you are on that day, right? On that day, because I can guarantee you, if all of us are out to dinner, we're having wine we're drinking, we all suck towards the middle, right? Because we're comfortable. It's where we want to be. But sometimes when you go to work, it's not a comfortable day, you've got other things hanging back in, in your cortex here that you got to deal with. So as a salesperson, you could walk into the perfect storm, right? Bad Day for somebody who will just crush you right on a phone call or an in person meeting. And you got to be able to work through those hard equations like that, or you just wasted your time with that sales call or that sales conversation.
So I had a call this week actually that, that I was way off and my my assessment of what the other person was. They were being super short and super succinct, and so I'm like, okay, this person's a D and they're not really eager to talk to me. And so, I know from all my conversations with Clint of like cool, okay like, I know how to navigate this. So I'm gonna push back just a little bit just to like ensure that they're not viewing me as a doormat. Because Clint often talks about if he can run you over, he's going to and then you lose all credibility. So I'm talking to this person and they're super short and I kinda crack a joke and they're just like, "yeah, no." And I was like man, no, you don't really want to have this conversation. Are you having a bad day or is it just me. And they flipped so fast, and they were like, god, you know what man, I'm so sorry. Like, it's just been a rough week. I'm sorry, I do want to talk to you. And they flipped so quick. So sometimes these gut assumptions we make about people, like and pretty rapid times sometimes. Sometimes you've only got a couple of minutes before you have to get into the conversation. And hopefully you've got some kind of idea of where they are.
So quick question. What were they though at the end of the day at the end of the conversation?
Oh, they were they were squarely an I/S, right.
I, okay, I was gonna suggest that yeah, that bigger spectrum of a swing is usually Yeah, remember S's can be passive aggressive right so they can be in that a great you know, they just came out with something that they're really pissed off about you know somebody somebody drank all the half and half in the fridge. And I'm not, I don't mean that to be literal I'm just simply saying it could happen to an I too. You know, you open the fridge and you're like, damn it now I got to drink black coffee, shit, you know? And so they vacillate just in a bigger swing a lot of times.
Well, and the thing about it is because a lot of S's are so converse, or I'm sorry, so conflict averse, that they'll they'll take those 10 little things over the day and over the week, you know, and they're gradually building, gradually building like a pressure cooker, and then all of a sudden, you open up that fridge and the half and half is gone. And it's just like, you know, and then it had it right. Like, like they've hit their tolerance and then they blow up. And it's not even about that thing. And so it can also make it kind of hard to pin them down in conversations when they get emotional. Because it's like, like, Okay, are you are you avoiding the conflict? Or is this like, really like an emotional thing? You know, so you have to go, I would say even not harder, but you have to go deeper with a with an S of like, trying to understand, okay, like, where are they really, to make them okay... Go ahead.
But you have to be careful that you don't hurt their feelings in the process, right? Because they're going through a real emotion, right? That a D probably wouldn't go, right. They didn't know right past it, like, no half and half, black coffee today. You know, slugging it down?
Is this gonna help me win. Yes. Okay. Great. Let's just make do. Yeah.
But John, in regards to your story. Look how important it was that you continued and asked a question. Then also in the question, you chose the right words. So important two very important dynamics to that story is you went, you didn't just go Okay, well, you're having a bad day, I'm just gonna close it down. You're not at it, you decided to ask a question and then you are cognitive of exactly what you need to say. That's so important that our words are so important. Questions are huge, it's so important to always ask questions.
And really, you know, I said that question thinking that they were a D, right, if I had known that they were an I an isolationist or whatever, I probably would have gone a little bit softer, you know, but like, like, I was thinking they were D because of the of the current situation. And so when I was facing that, it was it was a bit of a challenge, you know, something that I would do to like, Clint to like, see, like, do I even have his attention? You know, and, and so, so whenever they flipped, I was I was astounded. You know and I was honestly a little bit nervous that I was going to like, blow them out of the water like, I've been to Like direct, you know, but I thankfully, they, it didn't go that way. You know, we had a good conversation, we got a follow up call next week and stuff like this, but, you know, you're gonna be wrong sometimes. And that's totally okay. Because the thing to remember is that people get busy, right? And it's really easy to get jaded as like salespeople, like and screw that guy. Like, I'm never call him on that on that dude, again, it's like, you know, people are allowed to have bad days, you know. So I think that I think that that is an important thing that a lot of salespeople forget. Because you walk in there with all of your experience all the other calls that you've had that day, that week, that month, and if you're, if you're not doing very well, you're not performing and not crushing or whatever, it's easy to bring all that baggage into this other conversation, you know, and sometimes it's not, it's not warranted, it's undeserved. And you you're hurting your chances. So
Yeah, and don't forget too guys that there's always a secondary personality trait intermingled right so when you're dealing with, if not a third. Yeah. If not a third. Yeah, there's there's some people that border the middle even right. And that depends on emotion, day, situation, atmosphere everything. But you know, like I used to work with the guy that was a D/S, I'm sorry, an S/D. Right? So how do you pick that guy apart on a phone call, right? Because it took me six months and studying DISC personality when I had to print it out to figure that guy on how to work with him took me six, six months, you know, you're not, you're not going to hit a home run with that guy on the phone. But he's going to slide one way in business practices, and you should be able to pick that up with some of these little nuances and these little phrases and stuff.
So let me ask you, Clint was he like the epitome of a passive aggressive individual?
It was it was kind of like a bulldog up front. Pull back, you know, the bark without the bite type of thing. Sure. And so, so it was hard because you know, I I recognise the D traits and I think, Okay, this guy's gonna do what he says he's going to do. And when he says he's, you know, I'm done messing with that I'm going to get this done. I expected the result to happen soon. And then it would be like, well, I emailed that guy or I called that guy and you know, it just kind of rolled into an a new topic and, and so yeah, it was it was tough to deal with and, and, but after I learned everything about the personality side of it, and got it straight in my own head, hey, he was one of the best guys I've ever worked with. You know, you just had to play to the strengths right.
Now, I have a follow up question here. So So if he was in his Bulldog mode, what what what, what did that conversation look like versus his, I'm not feeling it. I'm back in this corner.
So so what I what I learned to do with him is is to basically call him out when he didn't follow through Because it would drag the the D out. Right and that and that's the world I live in. So it's comfortable for me, right? Had it been Nan dealing with him, she would have probably dragged the S out. It's okay, let's get through this together, that type of thing. So you know, and either way probably would have been successful because he was very 50-50 split, which is kind of a weird, weird personality. But for me being on my team, it was like, Hey, man, what happened to that thing you said yesterday, you said you were going to get that done? What happened? You kind of challenge that, that Bulldog mentality and they and the Bulldog comes back out.
So he steps up to the plate to kind of prove his worth on that side of the equation.
Exactly. But you might have to be there to kind of support that D.
Yeah, you got to come in as the gun behind his little bark and growl.
And that's okay, right, that works.
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Nan. You're being awfully quiet today. Do you have any thoughts about this stuff or have you had Have you had any situations like this week or recently that you were you were off in your assessment of the person who needed to shift or something you've come up against it.
So I don't usually miss that. The thing that I kept thinking, I had an issue this week, and my takeaway whenever they issue was over, was that it's really important to step back. Don't point fingers, don't don't feel attacked in this particular situation, and just say, well, it's one of it's one of three things, let's kind of, you know, so I, I just kind of laid everything out there, knowing who I was dealing with, and when you don't know. So for instance, this morning. We're, Al and I are working on redoing the clinic, and this gentleman came in and he clearly was a C. I could tell the minute I started talking to him. I brought him back to, because he was awesome. Yes because he's very awesome very very awesome. Yes, he was very detailed and he you know, well it was funny because I take back to where as it was working and Al kind of snapped at him, he said a couple things to to... They said a couple things to each other and Al kind of snapped at him. And I was like, Alright, well, let's go in here and I just wanted to get him away from him because I could tell that it was
She comes back and yells at me because I was mean to a vendor. I was just like,
I was the one that was talking so excuse me, Al, I apologize that you feel like you need to interrupt but anyway, so I go out into the room with guy this guy was it blew me away the way he did. He was just really he wasn't a super strong C and he just handled it. Everything so professionally. I was like, wow, I'm really good. So, um, I mean he wasn't very talkative at all, he was just kind of focused on what he would his mission and I'm gonna get it done and that's all I cared about. Okay. And so right before he leaves we didn't really that match I was just like, just there was very minimal conversation. Okay, we leave he's leaving and he goes, can I tell you something? He goes I don't know if I've ever met anyone as nice as you. And I was like
Well, that was good. I had been a dick to him right? As the guy is leaving...
We haven't even found I haven't even talked about this, but I thought he was probably like, crap that guy back there was just a jerk. And you know, he was probably like anything. So the my point to all of this is, you never know who you're talking to initially. You're just kind of have he kind of just have to step back. Listen, you know? Like Clint said, you really just have to listen and, and ultimately, don't be an ass. I mean, excuse my language, but, you know, it's just, I mean, I'm not pointing my finger at you, Al. I'm just saying,
It felt that way.
I think it's really important to give people a moment, listen to them. Then when you have, when you summarize you, they're like, Okay, I know what this person is like, then then realize how to handle the situation, choose your words, know when to ask the question, and but attacking people or saying you can so easily say the wrong thing. So really be cognitive of what you're going to say when you're going to say it. I think it's really important because you're going to leave an impression with people you're gonna Are you moving on you're gonna get to have another talk with them. Are you going to be working with them whatever on whichever area you know, be really smart and when this issue that I had and one with one of my clients You know, if I would have not learned over time how to handle a negative situation, I could have completely blown up the account by going. You know, just like in a panic instead you step back and you be calm and you choose when is the right time to ask the question, what are the words you're going to use? I know I'm repeating myself, but excuse the redundancy, but I think it's so very important in dealing with people.
So Al, so? So let's, let's look at this a little bit, right. Why do you yell at the guy? Were you having a bad day?
Well, no, I went to speak to him. He had just come back in and they was in the very back. They, I guess I said something to him, and he ignored what I said, or just kind of look past me. And so I brought it to his attention that this is what I wanted. Right? And
Dr. Daniel, he did that because he was so focused on his mission. And I understand that that's there. Okay, that's it. I'm glad you said that, because that's a very good point. So when you're a C that doesn't and you're very focused, I'm not picking on C's, I promise. I'm just choosing the example that has been given. When you're a C, Be really careful with who you're dealing with. Because if you're dealing with he was dealing with the D part of Al, right, so when you're a C and you're dealing with a D, you you don't ignore him. You need to give them respect, but he didn't know that. So you know, he's not as he's, I don't want to pick on the guy.
Well, but but he knows now.
Yeah, he does.
Well, but wait a second. He had Nanette to kind of coddle his little hurt ego. I don't think it hurt the guy's ego. I really don't.
I don't know if he knew, to be honest.
He probably doesn't realize but he addressed me and then he went out with Nan and Nan became the hero of the day, which is perfectly fine. I was glad for that I wasn't trying to be his best friend. I just want a job done. And it's flooring. You know, I'm like, Yeah.
And can I speak to that, Al, what you just said. I think. Now I don't think this pertains very much to Clint, but maybe potentially, I think that I think teaming up with someone in sales is really advantageous. And it's really good to have two different personalities. So when you're dealing with someone that's maybe not someone that you're going to feel real symbiotic with and you can use the other pers- not use, but you can, you know, I think a team is really good. I've heard Clint say things that because he does work with the team. He's the leader of the team, but he works with a team. And I think that's very advantageous. If ever you can have another person or other people with you, I think that is such a good way to cause more of a symbiotic relationship with everything.
Yeah, most most people don't want to be in that team environment because they get rewarded in sales off the individual achievement, right? So so it's very tough for anybody to want to bring somebody else in. And and I think I learned by learning personality traits that I could be more successful if I brought my team to success or the team that I'm a part of selling, then, hey, maybe I didn't make the sale. But my team did. Therefore, company grows, we make more money, I get more incentive. And it was all because I didn't match with the customer. But this other guy that I knew would, you know, I had to, but you know, for a D to give that up and to say that I'm, I'm not the right fit. It was it was tough, but that's through self awareness and learning my own personality traits and my own weaknesses. And that was always my biggest one, right? But the moment that I figured that out, to be able to bring in other personalities and And maybe you had 90% of the sale. But when it's time to make somebody feel comfortable, I bring in a John or a Nan or an Al to that conversation to say, hey, look, man, this is the team that you're rocking and rolling with, right? So, so it's not just gonna be me, maybe you like me, maybe you don't. But together, we'll figure this out. And so good revelation.
That life anyway,
I'm here to say that if you are struggling, if you are not as successful as you want to be, it is more than likely attached to your own level of self awareness. In all these situations that we talked with, right, you're getting shut down, not because you can't do it. It's because you're not aware enough to slide into those positions that make you so much more successful, so much more profitable. And when Clint just hit it, like it's when you hit these barriers, everybody's amazing on the easy simple one, right? But the ones that are more complicated and more involved are usually bigger fish, more detailed, more complex sales projects that require sometimes for you to think outside the box, go get some help. Consult with other people in and around your staff so that you get that awareness of where you may be sticking or not slight, you know, where it's not going the way you need it to get.
I mean, anybody can sell a bottle of water to a thirsty guy in the desert, right? Everybody can do that, no matter what the personality is. But you know, how do you sell a bottle of water to the guy that's got 600 balls of water in his cabinet? Like that's a little bit tougher sell right and and personality started playing and why do I need this and what are you going to do for me and why would I buy this from you versus him and I could go by it myself and you know.
Or better yet when you're in a competitive market with a lot of other good salespeople, right guys, I can tell you in Healthcare sales. There's pretty sharp individuals these guys come in with as much awareness as Nan and I have with great personalities, they look good, they they know how to wine and dine, they know every aspect of the job. And they're great at it and they're good for I mean, they're people we like to hang out with, but they are my competitors. And when it comes down to it, it's about being at least as good as they are and then out working right so if you're in that arena, that's a little different equation right? Because you've gotten there and then it's just wow, I lost that account cuz I didn't work it hard. Right on my back was turned not because I wasn't good. And so people out there listening, you know, that there is there's a dual component here. One is your abilities and then your work ethic, you know, behind, right, grinding it out. Yeah, there's there.
You know, there's so many techniques in sales, but like It doesn't matter at all you can know all the techniques, but if your mindset is not aligned with like, the actual purpose and the intention of those techniques, and what happens is it is it is it's all for nothing, right? So like Clint, and I don't have just like tons of empathy for people just like off the cuff, like, we have to go find that stuff. Right. And so what happens is like some of the things that we would say normally that are that are good questions, and challenging questions and stuff like this come across, sarcastic or passive aggressive and stuff like this. And so, like, there was a lot of things that I have learned and picked up and, you know, learn from coaches and learn from you guys and stuff. I mean, I can't say that. Well, the only reason I'm saying that, I can't say that is because I'm saying that I can't say that, right. There's a way to get that point across. It might not be in that verbiage. Specifically, it might have a different tone or different pacing to it. But you actually have to believe that this stuff works. Right. And so Clint, and I really have to like, okay, like, these are humans, humans have rights and they have concerns. They have fears and everything else like that. So let's, let's go figure that stuff out. Whereas like Nanette and Al some of the techniques are too conflict, like riddled, you know, like, like, Al have you already made a decision that I'm that we're never gonna be able to work together. How do you make that decision? Right? Some of that is really really uncomfortable for like I's in essence because there's conflict in you might not be liked at the end of it right? So we've all have our own struggles with this stuff, but the mindset has got to be there before you try to do any of the techniques.
So I will say that I would I would guess, and total guess here, but 75% of the sales out there made is from an I/S to a C/D, although I would say it's, it's a huge majority, right? I/S and you're selling to a D/C personality.
Because you're gonna find that in your operation side of things, you've got a lot of C's out there, right? It's true. When you start talking about IT projects and when you start talking about, you know, material was managers and people that are out there running inventory supplies, so if you're in trucking and in Just different shipping and receiving kind of scenarios. If you're going in the back door to do your sales pitch, you're talking to a C, right? Is there about inventory control? They're about Do I need any more of this? I've even had I've had people in hospitals go, I got 15 of them, I don't need that. Right. And now they're some of my best friends. You know, people that I'm Facebook friends with, they run hospitals, they run the back end, or I'm in the C-suite up there because we're talking price because the the the C let me in the door, but I gotta go ask the D to put it on the shelf. Right. And, and so I see a lot of that. Definitely a lot of that.
Interesting. I was gonna I was gonna call bs on that on that statement, Clint, but like, I think it's true, right? Like, yeah.
And I bring that up for a reason. Because, you know, there's, there's a lot of and you touched on it John has like I's and S's, just in their daily phrasing or the way they talk. You open up the door for so much doubt, right? In our in the D/C mindset of, I'm going to prove you wrong, I have the data that says it's your what you're saying as fact is wrong. Like you, you know you just so. So why I say that is because if that's the majority of the sale, and most of the salespeople out there in the I/S category, you, you need to learn the opposite side of the fence of the personality because I'm telling you right now I do it on a daily basis as a buyer, when I get these phone calls, these cold calls, and they started talking to me about, let me tell you about the best software on the planet. It's like, dude, that's a very one sided opinion. And I've already shut you down. And you didn't have to say that. You didn't have to say that at all. But because you're an I or an S, you believe in your product and you believe in that. You know, everything that you're Yeah, you can't help yourself. But if you just left that phrase out, right, that conversation with me would have went completely different. Whereas it's like, hey, I've got a software here. I'd like to see how many holes you could blow in it. I want to know how bad you can blow it out.
Clint and I you bring you bring up a good point because I know I's that have hot I read, you know, you get on Facebook and every company they work for is the best. They work for 10 companies, right? And I hear right, which is two a year, and they're still selling. And what they do is whenever they go to corporate training, they get that cup of Kool Aid and they go, you know, and then they just vomit it right back today. This in last year, they were saying the same thing about somebody else's product, right. And I've seen that and you nail that in the sense that they just go in and they're they're so excited about what they do.
It's funny because I call people out all the time because it happens in construction as much as any industry right? Especially on the vendor side where, you know, one one guy selling this, this brand of air conditioner this guy sell on the other, and then they they might swap this guy quits he hires on and then that guy goes takes his place. And it's funny love it. I will I will answer the phone call see the number and I'll answer and say, Hey, let me guess you're selling the best equipment today. You know, I look I know both sides of it. You both suck and you're both great. So, so yeah, I think I need to focus on that opposite side. Because I, I rarely sell to my own personality hardly ever. And I would guess most of you are probably in that category as well. I mean, it's just it's a weird way that it works out but I sell to John the most. I don't ever sell probably ever to a Nan, I sell to me or John. But it's mostly John and every once in a while, I'll get a Doc, you know, a Doc personality in there. And those are to be honest with you, those are my favorites. Because we have the most fun doing it, you know? So, but the C's for me are the easiest because it's just a I want the facts. This is the facts. Okay, here you go. And you tell me everything that you want. And so I give you everything that you need.
So I'm curious though, hold on, hold on real quick. So, Clint, do you feel this way because of like, how self aware you are because I have talked to lots of D's who don't want any of the details at all.
Yeah, it was it was miserable at first but like said self awareness and education of what we're talking about right now is hugely important because I can be on the phone with the, you know, an engineer that doesn't want to leave his cubicle. Right? And he's the buyer or he's the one making this decision. And he will tell me, Look, I don't want to hear it. I just want your number. And it's like, Okay, well, what number do I have to be at for you to buy it and I'll and I'll try to get you there. Well, I need you to be at this number. Done. Hang up, go get the number or don't and come back. Like that's the easiest sale for me. You know, I there's no bullshit, there's no red tape. It's just here's the facts. And I need the facts right now.
And you know what's what's crazy to me is so I got an RFP this week from from the company that does all the data plotting for the bus routes, like they've been around for forever, family owned business, and they're going to do a CRM change, right. And so they send out this RFP, and I don't really get a lot of RFP's,
What's an RFP?
Request for proposal. Okay, right there. They're asking me to bid on their project.
No, I got that now. The acronym.
And so, so this thing is, like, it's a good RFP, you know, like, like, you can tell this is not their first time it's not like, Hey, we want to CRM submit your bids, like Like, there's like timelines, there's, there's capabilities. There's, there's all of this stuff. And so, I know that I still have 1000 questions, right, but I know because of how legit this RFP feels, that my biggest concern is that they're gonna want someone who's more established, more pins on the wall, a bigger team and all of these things because like, this is like a seven page RFP, you know? And so I shoot an email because I'm like, let's see how this goes. Because I want to have a conversation, right. But like in that, in that email, the very first thing I said, like, you know, thanks for thinking of me, I have no idea how I landed on your radar. You know, my biggest concern is that you're going to want someone who's like really well established in a big team and a lot of support. And while I think we can do everything that's on here, I might not even be in the running. You know, additionally, I have some questions. Can we can we hop on a call next week, so that way we can work through them because I don't even want to waste your time if I'm not the right fit. The guy answered, hey, I like small business, you know, you don't have to be huge. I just need to know that you can do it. And I'm like, Okay, cool. So not fact-driven at all very much gut-driven. And he was like, we can absolutely have a call next week. So I'm like, you know, now now I get to have a phone call and work my program from there. But it was one of Those things to where, you know, I made an assumption that would have stopped me if I had not just gone and asked the question, you know?
Yeah, and that's, that's, that's hugely important because I'm the opposite way because I get these rfqs every single day I get 50 or 60 of them in an email every morning and I got to go through them and and throw out the ones that I like, don't like and do they even warrant a call back. And and I'm in the exact opposite conversation and I think we're a little too big I this projects pretty small. Why would you use us? You know, you're trying to pinch pennies here, you know? So it's very interesting, that same different worlds opposite approach. But yeah, I mean, well, and I get I get I get some that's like, why is this guy calling me I sent you the documentation, essentially the invite on the computer, why are you calling me and it's like, oh, because he's a corner C? Right and he's gonna live in his computer world and he wants everything brought to him and paper trail and facts and spreadsheets. But he's let me know that So if I want the job, that's what ideally,
absolutely right? And, and this is really important, because you know, there's like a lot of people were like, don't do RFPs and RFQs. And like, like, you're too good for all that stuff like, you can, you can win any number of different ways, right? You just have to put yourself in the most consistent position possible to do that, right. And to be honest, whenever I got this RFQ, you know, and I'm like, okay, cool, like, what do I want to do with this? You know, like, do I even want to deal with it? Because like, I'm thinking like a C, and I'm like, you know, what, if I send out an RFQ, it's because I don't want to have any conversations. Right? Like, like, like, there's a reason why I've gone through the work of putting out all of this all these details together all this information into this nicely formatted thing, sending it over to you, because like, I don't want to be sold something that I don't think I need. So send in your stuff, and then I will look at it and then we'll have a conversation. Like I'm thinking that way, right? And it almost was like, I almost just like deleted the email without taking any action at all because I'm like, ah, this guy's not gonna want to like have a conversation after after doing all this work, but I tried anyway, and now we get that call next week. So the way that You're wired is sometimes going to, like, show up and how you're thinking about how you're going to approach these things. And, you know, for like, at least C's and probably S's as well being more on the fact-driven side, we're so in our heads constantly that we can, you know, get really like wrapped up about, well, this is what I would do. So this this way everybody's gonna do it. And it's, it's defaulted towards, like a non, for at least for me it's it's, it defaults to like not involving other people, right? It's like, let's capture data. So...
Yeah, but and, you know, I received I received one last week, same same kind of scenario where I picked up the phone and made the phone call and said, Hey, you know, just looking at this project, just letting you know, we are interested, just that kind of follow up the email, phone call. And the guy was like, hey, but why I got on the phone. Don't worry about that stupid program that we send those invites through. That's just the, you know, that's our data work, data people pushing that to you. That's the way we do it. But you can just send me an email with your proposal. But in the instructions in the RFQ is 500 documents that I have to fill out. Yeah. And you know, if you don't make that phone call, this guy might not even see your proposal that's the decision maker. So it's just like, and that's kind of off topic, but but you know, instantly I know this guy's and I, instantly I know this guy is, you know, just kind of a cool as shit guy that I can that I can pick up the phone and just talk to and have conversations with makes the sale process so much easier. But without that phone call and without knowledge of what he is or why him that, you know, you're you're shooting, shooting, you know, shotgun pellets with the air. It's like, maybe I get those maybe I don't because I'm following the instructions from a guy that doesn't even make the decision. So yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
Let me check my phone. Yep. No, RFPs No, FR, RFQs, whatever the hell those things are you know, I want to make sure I didn't miss anything. Yeah,
I don't get many of them. So like, it's like I was surprised to get one Was this well, because normally it's like a it's like a small Hey, we need help, like, like how do we do this thing? Right? Okay, cool. Let's have a conversation, see if I can help you and all this stuff. But like this was like, this was like legit I think this guy has done this a couple of times and he said he was he was named with the company so I'm curious to see where he's been before and I haven't done all my research on him yet but yeah, there's you know, we're we're wired to think certain things right? And when it can take you down paths that are that are are not going to be helpful. So follow the process as opposed to like, just doing what how you feel about it at the moment. It's kind of my take away from that. We are at time guys, we're at 45 now and this has been solid solid up, ep, I would say. Let's go around real quick, Clint, you have any other thoughts about anything we talked about today? Any any, any point you wanna drive home?
I mean, you guys know my two cents but I you know, just just how important it is and I will beat this into everybody's head that I can. Learn who, what a, DISC or whatever personality assessment you take, learn you first, get it down to where you have no questions, no doubt. And then by doing that, you'll start to feel a confidence in studying other people and pushing, pushing that agenda, right? So yeah, just figure yourself out first and don't be scared of it. It's, it's who you are. It's not wrong. It's not right. It's just who you are.
Absolutely, dude, that's awesome. Al?
Choose your words carefully. And when I say that, the words you use will either move that emotional needle in a business sense with the person that you're speaking to, and you'll get their engagement because of that emotional needle moving or you won't, and if you're failing at that, if people seem to be disengaged, it may be just the words that you're using. Nothing else wrong with your you know, an acumen, what you know about your product or your ability to walk through that door and have the conversation, but maybe the choice of words is just not fitting the ears of the person that you're speaking with.
Absolutely. Nannette, you have anything?
Mine's not that much different. But, you know, think before you speak. Absolutely, that what you're going to say and when you're going to say it. I mean, I'm learning. Believe me. I don't know if anyone completely accomplishes that, but it's vital in life.
Yeah, for me, I mean, you guys all hit, like really amazing points. Like I love Clint's point about it's not good. It's not bad. You just got to figure it out. I love Al's point about like choosing the words very carefully. Because as a C, I think that I run the risk of running off the most people with having all the data and all the details and all the information I want to share with you and just let me fix your problem and all of these things, right. So and maybe we all feel this way. But you know, slowing down because, you know, I've seen Al's eyes glaze over of just like, this is too much right? And then now I know that for what it is, but like back before all of this stuff, and I work for Al and I would be going into detail and he's just kind of like, be done, be done, be done. Can we move on? It would be endlessly frustrating but I love I love Clint's idea right start with yourself because like once you know yourself and you know exactly where you are, you know all the things that you aren't so that way you can look for those things that you that you were not in other people that were talking to you so process of elimination I think is really important there. Dude, guys, this was awesome. I like I was not sure how much we would get out of this but I got a lot., so.
Before we leave Yeah, when when John goes into that, I'm like one second.
Yeah. That's fair. That's very fair.
Go ahead. I'm back. I'm back. Yeah.
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