PART THREE: CLOSING WHEN YOU’RE AN “ANALYTICAL”

Over the past two weeks I talked about closing strategies for Promoters and Controllers, and provided strategies for effectively closing clients if you were one of these two personality types.

As a review of those Zebra Reports, my thoughts on closing are this: there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all closing formula. If you try to convert, and “close” with the same message, and in the same style for each and every client, you’re not going to be very successful.

So how can you be effective at closing? By camouflaging your style, and becoming effective at addressing the needs of the personality style of the person you are trying to close. Doing this will greatly increase your success. Please throw away your scripts, and focus instead on not letting your personality dominate your interactions with clients.  

When I started this series I talked about my estimate that 80-85% of all agents are Promoters and Supporters. That leaves 15-20% of you who are Analytical and Controllers, and it’s probably split about 50-50 between these two groups … or about 7 to 10% of the agent population.

I’m going to talk this week about Analyticals, and offer solutions for those of you who fall into that personality category. If you haven’t taken our free proprietary Personality Assessment I encourage you to do that so you can start to take advantage of the information I’m sharing.

Analyticals get a bad rap in this business. Time and time again I hear brokers who are recruiting agents feel that Analyticals won’t make good agents. And some Analyticals themselves feel that way because they don’t fit the image of a “salesperson”.

I couldn’t disagree more! Analyticals can make phenomenal agents; like any personality type, they just need to learn to play to their strengths.

If you’re an Analytical, it’s likely you:

• Sell on facts and figures
• Rely heavily (sometimes too much) on data and statistics
• Ignore the emotional components of decision-making
• Are skilled at follow-up and follow-through
• May over-evaluate
• Wait too long to close

Does that sound like you? If so, here are my tips for helping you close all four personality types.

When Analyticals are trying to close with Promoters they should:

• Try to increase the “fun factor”
• Be friendly and open
• Show enthusiasm for the product or opportunity
• Sell to the person; don’t just sell the product features
• Be careful not to bog people down with details
• Close before they think it’s time to close

Because Promoters want personal recognition, and need to be liked, you will lose them during closing if you focus heavily on information. Remember, Promoters buy “the dream”, not the data. Promoters are the group most likely to purchase with minimal product knowledge, so you don’t need to spend time convincing them of the correctness of their decisions.

Supporters  are warm and fuzzy people-lovers who need an emotional relationship with a salesperson, coupled with a high level of trust. Without it, they won’t move forward.  Although they need proof as part of their decision-making process, they still do not want quite the level of detail an Analytical would want to provide. Remember that they need a series of smaller decisions to lead them to a larger decision, so don’t provide mounds of data at one time.

How to close a Supporter?

• Be friendly
• Earn their trust through a combination of relationship and data
• Keep the pace slow to allow time to digest information
• Don’t provide too much detail
• When closing, make the decision uncomplicated and provide lots of reassurance

You’ll also need to learn how to close Controllers. To do that, you’ll need to:

• Forget trying to impress them with piles of data
• “Bottom line” it; concentrate on the high points and summarize key details
• Ask specific “what if” questions
• Provide alternatives and choices
• Disagree with facts, not the person, in the event of conflict
• Don’t try to build a close personal relationship
• Keep in mind the ego of the Controller, not the merits of the product, when closing

Analyticals often find it difficult to close Controllers. While they have in common the fact that neither is typically thought of as a “people person”, in many ways Analytical and Controllers are quite opposite in terms of pace and the way in which they make decisions. Analyticals should be efficient when closing Controllers, but should be careful never to direct or order a Controller.

Finally, you may be working with people who are also Analyticals. While it seems like it would be easy to sell to someone with a personality style like yours, that’s not always the case!

If you’re an Analytical trying to close another Analytical you need to:

• Be accurate, realistic, straightforward, and direct
• Keep control
• Provide tangible evidence of claims
• Allow time for decisions and verification of data
• Be persistent, but don’t push too hard
• Be organized
• Make an effort to be friendly and personable
• Present options based on data and the client’s goal
• Close before you think it’s time to close

Analytical buyers will never buy the first house they see, no matter how perfect. They need to see them all so they know they’ve made the right decision. When showing, save the home you feel is the best fit for last. And when vying to list an Analytical’s home, try to be the last of the agents they are interviewing.

Next week will be my final Zebra Report in this series. I’ll be sharing strategies for those of you who are Supporters. Watch for that information – and don’t forget to take your free personality assessment today!