According to personality theorist David Merrill (his research in this area has been popular since the late '60s), there are four very different styles: amiable, analytic, driver and expressive. Merrill refined his research into a model that is extremely accurate and effective in pinpointing these different styles. What's this got to do with selling? Everything! You've heard the adages "People buy from people they like," and "If you're like someone, they'll like you." Well, Merrill has taken this a step further in helping us understand how to interact and relate to the four different styles. In short:



Amiable: Loves to relate on a personal basis; family and friends come first. Think warm and fuzzy stuff. When approaching this type of person, keep everything low-key, safe and secure. They move slowly and resist change. Your offer to put your product between him and a speeding bullet would make this prospect retreat to a fetal position!

Analytic: Needs facts and figures, statistics, research and trends with plenty of proof and demonstrations. They are very methodical in their decision-making process. They'll demand proof for everything! Your offer to demonstrate your product's capabilities would knock the socks off this prospect.

Expressive: This prospect loves being the center of attention and anything else that's happening! This social butterfly is very opinionated. Name-dropping will impress this prospect more than anything else. It's best to provide plenty of social proof about your product with reprints of articles and pictures of some "mover and shaker" standing in front of your product. Your proposed demo would likely be met with a "let me invite a few of my business partners to see this" response.

Driver: Demanding, fast moving and quick to decide. Whatever they say, they stick to it. You'd best be prepared to state your case in less than 10 seconds to any prospect who is a "driver." When you find yourself working with a driver, all you need to do is quickly state what this person would lose (fear motivator) or gain (reward motivator) by using your product. The driver would want to "pull the trigger" during your demo!