Use Personality Styles to Inform your Marketing and Sales team

As a team, you want to be able to tell what personality type your client or customer has. If you can figure out the personality type of your customer or client, you can target your marketing efforts for maximum efficacy.

There are a number of verbal cues or physical behaviors that can tip you off. But it isn’t always easy or possible to get to know your customers on this personal level. Sometimes all you know about someone is their name, or their email address, or what other websites they’ve visited, or where they work. So what can you do with this information? Target your marketing to their personality type by using what you know. For example, you could assess which personality types might be drawn to which careers. Or you can just use our handy-dandy guide.

If your clients or customers have D personalities

Get straight to the point. D’s are decisive and task-oriented. They are active and they want to get things done. If you incorporate emotional appeals or add superfluous details, they will lose interest. The D personality isn’t interested in spending a lot of time deciding what to do with this information. They want to know what they need to know, and move on. These people absolutely hate feeling like they are being taken advantage of. Ensure that they have the final say in what happens and can control the situation. Don’t try to upsell or push, these people know what they want and they don’t want you trying to sell them the wrong thing.

Your customers may be D personalities if they are: Managers, CEOs, Leaders, Coaches or are in positions of authority.

If your clients or customers have I personalities

Keep them entertained! An I style personality is turned off by boring, fact-based presentations or articles. They want color and imagery. They want noise and excitement. They also respond well to emotional appeals. These people are people-oriented. They want to know how this product will improve their relationships or make their lives more interesting and exciting. Skip the details, Is hate being bogged down with that stuff.

Your customers may be I personalities if they are: Artists, Writers, in the service industry or work at any job that is very sociable, people-centered and offers them a chance to talk a lot to strangers.

If your clients or customers have S personalities

Reassure them. S style personalities like things to be stable and predictable. They don’t like change. The S is very people and team-oriented. They’d be more likely to appreciate emotional appeals that indicate that they will be in good company if they choose this product. They will also be more likely to want to purchase a product if it appears to be able to improve their relationships or homelife. These are the people whose top concern is that they can’t trust you. Give them a reason to trust you, and you will have a loyal consumer.

Your customers may be S personalities if they are: Nurses, Teachers, work at a job where there is a lot of structure, routines and security.

If your clients or customers have C personalities

Give them the facts. They never make a purchase without researching it first. They want to make an informed decision, and they do not want to waste their money on something that doesn’t deliver. Give them the information that they seek, and don’t try to dress it up in a fancy package. They are irritated by purposelessness. They are not quick to decide, as they want to weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. Don’t try to rush them, but rather present them with the meaningful data and let them make the rational choice.

Your customers may be C personalities if they are: Engineers, Accountants, or any job that requires an ability to pay extreme attention to details

If you don’t know what your client’s personality type is, or where they work, or much about them at all, or if you want to target all four at once

Above we gave you an example of how you could use limited knowledge about a customer, such as their job title, to inform some of your marketing choices. It is always best to cater your language to your audience, and this means getting to know your client’s personality. But this isn’t always a possibility.You can use your knowledge of DISC to make decisions which can address the needs and concerns of all four styles at once. This will allow you to ensure that no matter who your customer is, your marketing efforts will speak to them.

• Begin with a call to action- A call to action is an instruction to the audience to provoke an immediate response, such as a button to click, a phone number to call, or a video to watch.This is for the D style personalities. The D is action and task-oriented. They don’t want to waste a lot of time trying to figure out what this email is about or what this advertisement is selling. They want you to get straight to the point so that they can make a decision. Don’t waste their time.
• Pique their interest- Ensure that you don’t lose the Is by making it interesting and attractive. Include imagery, color, and something for the Is to get excited about or entertained by. Is hate routine and monotony- appeal to their social and unique personalities by incorporating something captivating.
• Build a relationship- S style personalities are loyal, steady, and afraid of change. Reassure them that this product or service will make their lives easier or improve their relationships and you will have their loyalty. Utilize emotional language and focus on people. This will help you gain the trust of the Ss, and it will also maintain the attention of Is. (You’ve probably already lost the Ds, they’ve moved on. But if your call to action is effective and meets their needs, you’ve secured their purchase.)
• Feed them facts- Anticipate questions and incorporate details. The C style personalities need to thoroughly research options so that they can make an informed choice. You can satiate their need for information by giving them some of the details at the bottom of the page or at the end of the advertisement. Give them links to websites where they can gain even more information, or a phone number they can call to address their questions. C style personalities already know that the fine print is at the bottom, they’ve been conditioned to wait for the details they need. By the time you get to the details, you’ve lost the Is, but hopefully the big-picture, entertaining elements of your pitch have already whetted their appetite. Ss aren’t into details, either, but they appreciate the additional reassurance that there is research to back up their decision, and that they are in good company by deciding to buy things that other people have already approved of.

If you can incorporate elements that appeal to all four personalities, you can provide a little bit of something for everyone.