Interpersonal/interactive

Clients with this personality tend to be the life of the party.

Clients with a high interpersonal/interactive rating usually are the life of the party.

Being the great communicators they are, says Ray Leone, president of Leone Resource Group in Charleston, S.C., they’re attracted to professions such as sales and marketing.

As the labels suggest, I’s make relationships a top priority. “They want to spend the time talking to the person,” says Thomas Phillips, president of Sales University Inc. in Round Hill, Va. “They’re concerned about who’s going to be working on their property and what their neighbors and friends think. And you have to satisfy their concerns.” So in discussion of the choices they need to make, he says, high-I clients will ask what other people like and what most people do. They want to stand out in a crowd, so they want the best-looking pool available. Their primary fear is social rejection.

Unlike dominant/drivers, I’s like and even require that people spend a fair amount of time shooting the breeze in order to develop trust.

I’s also like the most cutting-edge gadgets, partially because of their love for life and partly because of the prestige. “If you go into their garage and see very little organization, but see all the latest and greatest add-ons to bicycles, and they have the BMW in the garage because it’s the ‘ultimate drive machine,’ you can tell that guy’s [an interpersonal/interactive],” says Steve Ast, vice president of sales and marketing at Shasta Industries, a Phoenix-area pool builder.

They tend to be very enthusiastic, quite disorganized and they hate detail, Ast says. “So you may not want to go through the idiosyncrasies of a filter,” he says. “[They] may just want to see a lot of color renderings and three-dimensional designs.”

They also don’t care much for authority, he adds. “I think they want to challenge authority vs. working with it,” he says. “They’ll challenge it to make sure it’s better vs. just standing still.” So salespeople and designers should watch their tone.

I’s also have a low tolerance for negativity, says Ast, which makes bad-mouthing a competitor “the worst thing you can do.”

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

MORE INFORMATION
Dominants/drivers
This personality type likes to make things happen.

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.