Deck 5: Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building

Question 1

A salesperson stated, "I just can't stand to deal with buyers who have trouble making up their minds. I'd much rather deal with someone who shouts at me and tells me in no uncertain terms what they hate about me or my product." Based on this limited amount of information, what social style would you guess the salesperson to be? What would be your response to this salesperson?

Answer 1

Social styles stand for a behavioral theory wherein people at workplace are analysed and distinguished on the basis of four social styles- the driver; the analytical, the expressive, and the amiable. The driver stands for the people who are action-oriented and result believers; analytical ones are who are concerned with everything and makes it highly organized; the expressive ones enjoys involvement with others; while the amiable ones are happy, relaxed and content with whatever will be the situation.
A salesperson says that he cannot stand with people who could not make their buying decisions, instead he likes those customers who shouts at him and informs him the product or service they did not like about what a salesperson is trying to sell to them.
Based on this little information, the social style to which the salesperson belongs is driver style. This is because the people belonging to this social style are task and result oriented, self-motivated and wants everybody else to be in the same wavelength as that person is. These people want to be ahead of others and carry high ambition for their careers. They are open and do not hesitate in speaking their mind. This way it could be said that the salesperson in this case belongs to a drive social style.

Question 2

You have a buyer who is a real jerk. She is in constant battles with all the salespeople who call on her, as well as with her own staff. Her business is important to you, and you don?t want to lose it because you love the commissions on the sales you make. How should you adapt to her social style?

Answer 2

Social styles stand for a behavioral theory wherein people at workplace are analysed and distinguished on the basis of four social styles- the driver; the analytical, the expressive, and the amiable. The driver stands for the people who are action-oriented and result believers; analytical ones are who are concerned with everything and makes it highly organized; the expressive ones enjoys involvement with others; while the amiable ones are happy, relaxed and content with whatever will be the situation.
Mr. Y is having one of the customers in his list who a real jerk as she creates problems with every salesperson who approaches her for further prospects of business. But as her business is very important for Mr. Y's firm and he could not afford to let her loose as a customer because of the heavy commission that Mr. Y receives from her.
In this situation, Mr. Y could adapt to her social style by providing her business relationship which she is interested in and adapting to the analytical types of social skills wherein the person is concerned with everything and makes it highly organized. This will help Mr. Y to conduct business with her in an appropriate manner without giving her a chance to get angry of upset with the firm's products and services. Mr. Y has to deal with her in a way she likes it and continue to do business with her and enjoy the related commission from the sales she makes.

Question 3

In "Sales Technology 5.1" you learned how Isuzu is using NetSuite to empower its salespeople to perform more effectively and efficiently. But some salespeople, far from using the benefits of technology, were still writing call notes on the back of envelopes. What would be your response to a salesperson who says, "I don't need all that fancy technology. My system of taking hand notes works just fine for me"?
(In Reference Sales Technology 5.1)

Answer 3

Social styles stand for a behavioral theory wherein people at workplace are analysed and distinguished on the basis of four social styles- the driver; the analytical, the expressive, and the amiable. The driver stands for the people who are action-oriented and result believers; analytical ones are who are concerned with everything and makes it highly organized; the expressive ones enjoys involvement with others; while the amiable ones are happy, relaxed and content with whatever will be the situation.
In the given case, the firm IS makes use of a new technology to jot down the important discussion points and issues from the customers using this technology that has prevented the use of pen and paper for making hand-made notes. But there are still some employees who prefer their old style of taking notes and comment that they are in no need of this fancy technology and are fine with their system of taking hand written notes.
The response that could be given to the salespeople who are not making use of the new technology is that they should once give a try to the new technology which has been created only to ease their work and make it more organized. The employees could be motivated for not being rigid and make use of the technology and save their time in making use of it in some other important task. The salespeople could be pushed to make use of this technology so that they remain competitive with others and do not get consider as old-fashioned in terms of undertaking tasks.

Question 4

A salesperson made the following comment: "I hate it when my sales manager makes calls with me. I do so much better when I'm by myself. After the call, she is always telling me what I did wrong." Based on what you learned in this chapter on knowledge systems, what would be your response to this salesperson?

Question 5

"A good salesperson can sell any customer." Do you agree? Why or why not?

Question 6

Would a person with an analytical social style be better at selling than a person with a driver or an expressive style? Why or why not?

Question 7

Some people object to the social style matrix training system because they don't want to "act". Is that a valid objection? What would you say to them?

Question 8

What social styles would you assign to the following people?
a. Oprah Winfrey

Question 9

The salesperson in Building Partnerships 6.1 had to tell the surgeon that he was using a product incorrectly. Assume you are in a similar situation. You have to tell a surgeon that she is using your product incorrectly. How would you do that differently for a surgeon that is an analytical versus a driver surgeon?

Question 10

Suppose that, during a sales call, a customer says, "I'm not convinced that this new product will sell." How should you respond if this customer is a driver? An expressive?

Question 11

Market research by a commercial cleaning company identified two types of high schools. Traditional high schools believe that teacher and staff satisfaction is based on the quality of students and that cleaning services are relatively unimportant. Private and charter high schools believe that cleaning services are very important because they affect the students' parents' perceptions of the school. What type of sales presentation would you use to sell janitorial services to each of these high school types? Which product features and benefits would you emphasize in each case?

Question 12

Based on information provided in this case, identify each of the three buyer's social styles.

Question 13

If you were Jon, what should you do to sell to this group?

Question 14

What kinds of knowledge do you need to do your job effectively?

Question 15

How can you acquire that knowledge?

Question 16

?As a salesperson, is it ethical to adjust your presentation based on social styles? Isn?t that just being manipulative? Can't you just be yourself and sell?

Question 17

What type of system should you use to store that knowledge and retrieve it as needed?