Dominants/drivers

This personality type like to make things happen.

D’s are doers. Some refer to them as drivers because they’re the people who make things happen. Business owners and doctors often fall into this category. “They’re dominant, high-risk takers and, as a result, quite often end up at the top of an organization,” says Ray Leone, president of Leone Resource Group in Charleston, S.C. “Even if they screw up sometimes, if they take enough risks they’re out in the front lines.”

As the name implies, drivers want things to move quickly. “A highly dominant person is going to be very much a bottom-line [person],” says Thomas Phillips, president of Sales University Inc. in Round Hill, Va. “They’ll tell you this is what they want and they don’t want to hear a lot of fluff because they don’t have time for that conversation.”

D’s tend to defy what some basic sales instructors teach, Leone says. “We’ve been taught in Sales 101 to start up with small talk: ‘How’s the weather? How are the kids?’ But with a D, you’ve lost them in the first 30 seconds. After ‘Hello,’ [they want to know] ‘What’s in it for me? Why should I bother listening to you for one more second?’”

These clients also are used to being in charge. “If you did what they teach you in Sales 101, which is to assume the sale, a D will throw you out,” Leone says. “Never take a decision away from a D or assume that the D is going to do anything. It will make them very angry very quickly. You must give them the alternate-choice close. Give them choices with which to make a decision.”

While their mannerisms may make you feel that D’s want you to take a submissive stance, the opposite is true: D’s only want to give time to those who, like themselves, are confident and successful. “For a driver, the only thing they may appreciate is somebody coming right at them with the information saying, ‘Let’s get this thing on board. We don’t have a lot of time,’” says Steve Ast, vice president of sales and marketing at Phoenix-based Shasta Industries.

As an example, Leone recalls an architect who had designed his own backyard pool and wanted Leone to bid on construction. “I knew there were two other companies scheduled to bid, but I said, ‘You don’t really intend to build this pool at this place do you?’

“He looked at me and said, ‘What’s wrong with it?’ The moment he said that, I knew I had him. He said, ‘Well, what would you design?’ And that was it.”

Architects also are notorious dominant/driver personalities, so you might think that this client would have stopped Leone in his tracks for taking such a tone. “But they respect power and authority,” Leone says. “And they like people who are confrontational if they feel it’s going to get them the results that they want because they’re bottom-line-oriented.”

However, D’s have a fear of losing face. They fear the idea of others making fools of them or taking advantage of them. The key in the above example, Leone says, is that he took this stance when he and the architect were alone. “If I had done this in front of his wife or anybody else, I wouldn’t have gotten the same reaction.”

Even though you need to make your know-how evident, Phillips says, you also have to present information in a way that allows these clients to own each decision, and lets them know you realize you work for them.

For instance, Phillips says if a dominant/driver gets impatient with all the information you need to design their pool, tell them in a straightforward manner that you need this information to get the job done. “You could say, ‘You and I have to spend enough time to get that picture from your head into my head, or else I can’t help you.’

“I’ve given them an answer in 30 seconds or less. I’ve also said to them, ‘You are in charge here. I work for you.’ That’s important to high-D’s.”

But in this hypothetical example, Phillips also has let clients know who is the expert, and they will accept that in order to accomplish their goal. “At the end of the day, the dominant person wants to stand over that pool and say, ‘Yes, this was my vision. I had my vision built,’” Phillips says.

Of course, if you can’t back up all the bluster with know-how, a D will sniff you out pretty quickly. But if you take a passive attitude, these experts say, your lot in life could become nearly intolerable. “[D’s have] learned to get what they want through intimidation,” Leone says. “If they intimidate you and you capitulate, that’s a sign of weakness, and D’s have no respect for weak people. You might sell the pool, but you’re going to sell it at the lowest price and they’re going to make you run through hoops like you’ve never run through before.

“It has to be a peer-to-peer discussion.”

In the long run, however, these clients can pay off the most, Phillips says. “When the high-D runs around and tells their friends and neighbors, ‘You really have to buy a pool from this company,’ they will listen,” he says.

FEATURE STORY
They've Got Personality
Gaining your clients' trust requires keying into the needs of their specific personalities.

MORE INFORMATION
Interpersonal/
interactive
Clients with this personality tend to be the life of the party.

Stable/security-minded
This group hates disruption, hassle, change and risk, experts say.

Critical thinkers/
cautious
These consumers enjoy obtaining technical information and making an informed analysis of situations.

Keeping in step
To be successful, sales professionals must also understand their own personalities.