How to profile a buyer in six minutes

In this post, Chase Hughes and myself are going to provide you with a simple, practical six minute analytical model which he developed for the US Govt. CIA… it's now being taught to elite business people - we're going to show you how you can use your buyers communication and behaviour as the model for helping them buy more for more.

Situation: You’re meeting with a high value prospect… 

Problem: You’ve developed an unconscious bias for filtering both verbal and non-verbal communication - quite simply you recognise your own behaviour, ignore or misinterpret the rest.

Implication: You’re able to professionally read 20% of what you’re seeing/ hearing.

Need: Notice and utilise the 80% you’ve been missing… or your 20% sales close ratio will never change.

Below you'll find the specific components we use to profile and model buyer behaviour and communication - understanding this will enable you/ your buyer to #sellmore / #buymore.

(GHT), (General Hemispheric Tendency)

• What side of the persons body is used to present positive beliefs, opinions and experiences?
• On subjects of mutual importance, what movements and emblems does the person make with that side of their body to make their point?
• What side of the persons body is used to discuss negative issues, how are they physically disassociating themselves from things they don’t want?
• Understand this and your communication will be met by a brain thats already wired in to how you communicate.

(NI) Needs Identification

Discovering the personal need of the individual automatically shows you what they fear…

One Example

Significance - if the person has a social need for significance they’ll communicate the importance of what they do and by implication who they wish to be seen as… So simply put, they fear being seen as a person or being seen to do something which lacks meaning, purpose or significance… 

• From a sales perspective, understanding the person with a need for significance, you’ll want to understand what’s personally significant for them and how they communicate their need for significance on a verbal and nonverbal level— aim: ensure that you’re able to tie their need for significance with yourself, your business and your offer on both a verbal and a non-verbal level - (we’ll show you how later). 
• At a higher level, you’ll also be able to hear what’s insignificant for this person - so you’ll know to verbally and non-verbally disassociate yourself and your offer from who/ what they need to avoid, (How? By utilising GHT, the side of the body and mannerisms/ emblems which they use). 

Note

When you’re able to engage with a person at an unconscious level, you’re able to physically and verbally embed suggestions and statements into your message which will be readily agreed to. For instance, just imagine a person who you respect - you recognise they share the need for significance… they want someone to learn a course that changed their life, they might tell that person about the success they’ve achieved, and based on their level of authority and non-verbal engagement, that person might just agree without giving it a second thought, or they may decide to open up to the idea because there’s something about the message that resonates, 

(Authors note: The embedded commands here are, “Just agree” and “Open up”… The point here, if you have something of value and you’re able to bye-pass a persons personal ego-needs whilst gaining both verbal and non-verbal affinity - you’re becoming professionally persuasive…).

Sensory preference…

What’s your viewpoint, how would it sound to you, or how would you think or feel if you were able to identify and utilise the sensory preference of the person you’re speaking with (every time)? Although this is one of the simplest tools for gaining affinity - only the best communicators adapt the sensory representations of the person they’re speaking with during conversation - quite simply, professionals do adapt their language to suit the buyer and amateurs either can’t or won’t change.

(Authors note: The statement “Professionals utilise sensory preferences and amateurs either can’t or won’t change” provides a recipient like yourself with a choice - Am I pro or an amateur? In most cases, the natural response will be to identify and associate with what’s desirable - “Be a pro not an amateur”… Professional boxers will often delay going for the knockout in the fight by hitting the body - it’s the cumulative effect of their very physical communication which sets up the opponent for the headshot. 

What we’re looking for is similar - used in conjunction and sequence, we’re analysing the individual in a way which lets us communicate in a manner which creates a compound effect - in our profession, this is known as gaining authority, compliance and agreement. 

To summarise…

Up to now, we’ve utilised the persons social need and weakness to connect yourself and offer with a person who has “the need for significance”. We’re using the same side of our respective bodies and movements to communicate and connect our respective points in a way which represents how the buyers brain moves their body. Having gained initial levels of affinity we’ve began to embed commands and statements which create “openness and focus”… and we’re beginning to align our language in a way which represents the buyers world… 

Pronoun usage 

How is the person you’re speaking with focused on and referring to the topics of… Self, Love and Community… Why? These are Key personal topics and provide insights as to the level of focus, connection and importance the person you’re speaking with attaches to what represents three of life’s key topics, “Self, Community and Love”.

For example… The use of “that community” indicates a distance exists between the individual and the community under discussion. Whereas, Our community indicates shared ownership.

Note

The professional profiler will actively gather insights such as these then utilise them when preparing to communicate and whilst communicating with the prospect… Examples range from reciprocal pronouns such as, “each other” over “one another”, “several” over three or more… 

Personally, I’m interested in what the person I’m speaking with a. Owns, b. Disowns. This enables me to place both verbal and non-verbal “Associative and Dissociative markers, statements and commands in the exact places/ positions I want to draw the buyer into or away from. 

Adjective Usage

To make your communication bright and persuasive or in contrast inhibitory/ aversive, being able to identify the buyers use of adjectives only serves to enrich and compound the effectivity of your communication. In short, the buyers use of adjectives will provide you with the means to describe the object of discussion in terms which create a representational match within the mind of your buyer…. For example, If your buyer describes their issue in “vivid terms” and they’re looking for a beautifully designed solution which stands out… You can surmise that “Stands out” = Difference then utilise the adjective to describe the “vivid difference” of your offer and end with details which relate, communicate and lead to a beautiful finish. 

Wouldn’t you love to know your buyers internal drives? Here’s how… 

Glove Questions show us the needs, passions and connections of the person you’re speaking with. Understand the persons a. Goals, b. Loves, c. Occupation, d. Ventures, e. Expectations - you’ll have a good understanding of where the buyers drive and core competence lies… E.G. Where do you see yourself and what are you achieving three years from now? Are you doing what you love? Why do you do what you do? Do you have any sidelines or side interests? 

For example, if the buyer answers your goals question…

By speaking about “Future achievements” - these equal Present or desired Goals. These goals will be expressed in terms of attainment or avoidance - as such, you’ll know what to motivate the individual towards or away from when it comes to your offer. You’ll know by the tense they’re using whether their goals are present or not, and as an added bonus you’ll also connect with their core competencies and interests… a. people, b. Places, c. Things, d. Activities, e. Information. 

For instance, if the answer is “people” oriented you would frame your communication and offer in terms of the harmony your offer creates, positive team work, personal and professional engagement… you would use the names of your clients when making references and go the extra mile with personalised service… If they use “Places”, you would speak about the journey, milestones and go into vivid detail with regards to the destination they arrive at with you/ your offer… 

Seven Pillars of Choice

Sex and mating

Deviation from norms

Significance

Approval

Growth and development

Avoidance of pain

Power and control

On a personal level - what’s important to your buyer? For instance, “I go the gym on a regular basis because when I’m sixty my youngest daughter will be twentyW - from this statement you can surmise that, I have a personal need to protect my family… If we look slightly deeper at this, you’ll notice a need for power and control in this specific area - take this a step further and there’s an indication that I lacked physical control of my environment in my earlier years. Then ask, if I’m an individual with the need to protect my family and those around me, what sort of partner would I have? One with the need for protection - so you would then find that my significance on a familial level is rooted in the old school protector role… As such, my likelihood to deviate from norms relating to health and wellness is highly unlikely, whilst my growth and development are inherently tied into physical and by implication personal growth. 

Here’s the thing, the statements which you’re not paying attention to are likely the statements which will give you an in-depth insight into where the buyer actually is… and as a result, you’ll be able to place your offer directly into the heart and mind of the buyer. 

If you like this, your network will likely like, comment or share it too - that's good for me, them and you.

Thanks/ nice day,

Robert