Business development pros often attribute a portion of their success with closing business to their unique artistry as a “people person.” Charisma, storytelling and a bright smile have forever been linked to superior results. While certainly contributing factors, we know there exists an underlying science to influencing a target audience – one that more consistently produces a greater percentage of desired outcomes.
Speak into your audience’s listening.
The riddle in sales has long been converting new relationships into paying customers. Lately the terrain has grown more rugged with introductions and networking occurring largely inside a Zoom session. A substantial percentage of missed opportunities are experienced by those who do not effectively speak into their audience’s listening. Those familiar with various behavioral assessments (see: Everything DiSC Model, or Tracom’s Social Styles) understand that we all exhibit individual preferences when we communicate, make decisions, evaluate risk, and share opinions. These preferences typically cluster in one of the four main segments of the model. This means we are naturally – at best – aligned with only 25% of the world around us. To increase our relatability, or social versatility, we must stretch from our comfort zone and meet others where they are.
Many successful relationship managers generate a decent living without relying on a pre-constructed model to guide their interactions. However, sustainable results require a stricter adherence to a repeatable process. Operating while suffering target blindness to 75% of your overall market’s behavioral preferences will, in time, diminish the likelihood of success and derail long range plans. Factor in the absence of silent clues and environmental influence formerly present in live meetings, and the virtual realm poses much greater variation in results.
Some immediately impactful ways to increase your hit ratio without a full DiSC assessment and profile debrief:
1. Revise your process of engaging with new relationships and moving them to take action thru the lens of virtual interactions;
2. Identify more virtually-appropriate marketing strategies that leverage the concept of behavioral preferences to drive favorable outcomes;
3. Align your individual/organizational brand with how clients are experiencing you virtually;
4. Source new and develop current talent based on their value set, considering how the WFH era has impacted their mindset.
Whichever your next step, consider enlisting people well versed in either DiSC or a similar model. A team that rallies around their profiles will exhibit increased versatility and produce more favorable outcomes from virtual and live opportunities.
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