061 | The Secret to Closing Deals Faster

Are you tired of sales feeling like a never-ending game of cat and mouse? 

In this episode, I’m spilling the beans on how to close deals faster by understanding your client’s unique buying type. I’m talking about transforming those ho-hum pitches into irresistible offers that cut your sales cycle in half and pump up your profits. 

You’ll also get the inside scoop on the psychological triggers that turn casual interest into a firm "Yes!"—and why ignoring them is like leaving money on the table.

But wait, there’s more! I’m pulling back the curtain on the DISC sales assessment, a secret weapon that lets you tailor your approach to connect with your clients on a deeper level. I’m sharing real-world stories of how understanding my style and my client’s style boosted my close rate by 30%—and made selling feel less like pulling teeth and more like second nature. 

Tune in, and get ready to turn those leads into loyal client who can’t wait to say, "Yes, please!"

In this episode, you’ll learn

• How to close deals faster and the secret to shortening your sales cycle by tailoring your pitch to match your client’s buying type.
• The key psychological triggers that turn potential leads into loyal clients and how to leverage them effectively.
• How to use the DISC framework to customize your sales approach and connect with your clients on a deeper, more personal level.

This episode at a glance:

[2:15] - Introduction to psychological triggers in sales: Why understanding what makes your clients tick is essential.

[8:30] - DISC Sales Assessment explained: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness types decoded.

[15:45] - Real-world example: Tailoring a sales pitch to a conscientious client and the impact on closing the deal.

[22:00] - Benefits of aligning your sales style with your client's personality: Reducing miscommunication and increasing sales success.

Resources and Links mentioned in this episode

• Dawn Andrews
• People Reading Guide
• How to Use DiSC Behavioral Styles
• Check our BLOGS 

You might also like:

• 8 Strategies for Niche-Bound Businesses
• How to Not Fail in Your First Year in Business
• Business Goals Workbook

More about the “My Good Woman” podcast

My Good Woman is a podcast for new and future female leaders, hosted by me, Dawn Andrews, founder of Free Range Thinking, "My Good Woman" is for new and aspiring female leaders. Join me each week for candid chats with trailblazing women breaking barriers and leading impactful businesses. We dive into what drives them and share practical tips to help you streamline operatio

Want to increase revenue and impact? Listen to “My Good Woman” for insights on business strategy and female leadership to scale your business. Each episode offers advice on effective communication, team building, and management. Learn to master routines and systems to boost productivity and prevent burnout. Our delegation tips and business consulting will advance your executive leadership skills and presence.

Transcript

My Good Woman
Ep. 61 | The Secret to Closing Deals Faster

Dawn Andrews:

Influence in sales isn't about manipulation. It's about mastering the art of listening, asking great questions, and understanding your client's mind before they do.

Welcome to the My Good Woman podcast where we help female founders break past plateaus and get to the next level of business growth by refining their strategy building systems and streamlining operations. 

I'm Dawn Andrews, the founder and CEO of free range thinking business strategy consulting. Join me each week for candid conversations, with culture, shifting glass ceiling busting trailblazing women who are leading impactful enterprises and grab their strategies to help your business reach extraordinary levels of growth.

In this episode, you're going to learn how to close sales faster. Specifically, I'm going to share the secret sauce to closing those deals faster by understanding your client's buying type and how you can transform your sales pitch from generic to magnetic and slash that sales cycle time and boost your profits.

You'll also understand why ignoring psychology is costing you clients. we'll uncover the psychological triggers that make your clients tick and learn why failing to tap into those can mean the difference between a loyal fan and a missed opportunity.

And finally, we'll talk about turning insights into income And we'll dive into that DISC sales assessment so I can show you how this powerful tool can give you a competitive edge and a much deeper connection with your future clients by helping you customize your sales approach to meet your client's deepest needs and desires.

Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to another episode of my good woman, where we empower female founders like you with business strategy and time management tools to transform leads into loyal clients and make running your business so much easier and a lot more fun. 

I'm your host Dawn Andrews, and today we're diving into a topic that can make your sales conversations a smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy, psychological triggers and the DISC sales assessment.

Whether you're a natural sales whiz, or someone who would rather do a root canal on themselves when it comes time to pitch your makes your clients tick is essential.

So buckle up buttercup, because we are about to make your sales strategy as irresistible as a dark chocolate sea salt caramel. Mm. Delicious. 

Okay. First things first. 

Let's talk about psychological triggers in sales. Imagine you're at a party and you're trying to convince a friend to get up and do karaoke with you. You wouldn't just say, come sing, unless the person that you're trying to pull up with you is the kind of person that you have to tear the microphone out of their hand. If they're a little shy or a little, Hesitant?

You'd want to tap into what motivates them, right? So maybe they do love showing off their amazing voice, or maybe they need a little bit of peer pressure and convincing. Sales is not any different. Psychological triggers are like the magic dust that can transform your pitch from meh To must have.

In fact, a 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers future of customer experience survey shared that 86 percent of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.

And that starts the minute you begin your sales process, even the minute that you begin your advertising. understanding what makes your clients tick isn't just helpful, it is profitable. The DISC sales assessment. This is your secret weapon. And why am I so bullish on this? it takes 20 minutes to give you a cheat sheet to understand your client's personalities and your sales style and your sales personality so that you can tailor your approach accordingly.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies use personality assessments to optimize their teams and their sales strategies. this is not just any old BuzzFeed quiz. This is the real deal, deeply designed and road tested product to give you some wonderful insights into how to best sell to your ideal clientele.

The DISC framework breaks down into four personality types. Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. let's decode those different types, shall we? picture this. You're selling to a dominance type client, like a D style.

And those are the people that walk into the room like they own it.

With D style clients, you really want to focus on results and efficiency. Tell them how your service can fast track their success and save them time and keep it direct and to the point like a well crafted tweet.

The D styles talk fast, think fast and decide fast. And you may even be losing your opportunity to sell best to those types if you're spending a lot of time going through every single page of your pitch deck.

They like to decide quickly. So put the important information up front. 

Next, we have the I style or the influence types. and these are your social butterflies. I like to think that they are most likely to start a conga line or a limbo contest in the middle of a party.

The I style, the influence style loves a good story. They love enthusiasm. They love to be able to connect first before they get into the business conversation. So to work with the eye style best. Paint a vivid picture of how yourproduct will transform their lives and or the lives of the people that work for their company. Sprinkle in some exciting testimonials, some before and after stories. They love a good reveal. And they're more likely to say yes when they feel a connection with you. So share a little bit more about yourself personally.

Okay, moving on. This is the S style. So D I S C for disc. And now we're on S, which is steadiness. the S style, the steadiness types are all about trust and relationships. You want to build rapport, take your time, emphasize the security and consistency that your product provides.

In fact, you probably have noticed that even in describing the S Style, I have slowed down the cadence of my speech. These clients want to feel safe and supported. They want to know that what you are selling them will create even more consistency in their experience.

In the selling process, they want to feel safe, supported, and like they've gotten a warm hug from a trusted friend. 

And finally, the conscientious types, the C Style. These are your detail oriented thinkers. Deep details. They need data, stats. They need all of that.

All the nitty gritty. They are going to love your 72 page pitch deck and the appendices and spreadsheets that go with it. give them the numbers and proof that they crave right up front and they will respect your thoroughness.

When you tailor your sales approach using disc. You're not just selling a product or service, you're creating an experience that resonates with your client's core personality. In fact, Salesforce's state of sales report shared that salespeople who adjust their strategies based on a client's personality type, see a 15 percent increase in close rates, which is extraordinary.

So imagine what that could do to your business's bottom line. If you increased your sales closing rate by 15 percent and all of your salespeople did too, what would that do to your numbers? 

Working with DISC is like customizing a playlist for a road trip. If you get it right, you and your clients will be singing your praises.

So let's sprinkle in some real world success here. in looking at the psychological triggers of your ideal clients and using the DISC sales assessment to get there, you will understand your own style and the style of your potential clients, which is transformative in real life situations.

 I'll give you a practical example of how it worked when I was in a sales conversation with an architectural firm. I'm a business consultant who focuses on helping founders scale and grow through streamlining their operations and building out extraordinary teams.

And I had a meeting with Tom, the founder of an architectural firm. I first looked at what my style is. I'm a high ID, which means I'm both a combination of dominance and influence in the disc assessment, which means I'm enthusiastic. I'm outgoing. I love building relationships. And I also drive towards results and speak really quickly, usually in high concepts.

Tom, on the other hand, he was high on the C scale. He was very conscientious, which means he was analytical, detail oriented, and values data driven decisions. And he speaks very methodically. There are long pauses in the conversation, and he really takes his time to consider the information being shared with him.

Let's just talk about. Each of our styles and where they might be potentially misaligned. So my strengths, in my ID style, are being persuasive, I'm charismatic, I'm great at building rapport. But from Tom's perspective, I may be overlooking details, or I may come off as impatient with the lengthy discussions on data that he needs to be able to make a good decision.

I might focus too heavily on telling stories and relationship building and kind of yucking it up in the conversation, which is overwhelming to him because he prefers data and detailed analysis. let's talk about Tom style being really conscientious. He likes the analysis. He likes precision. He likes step by step thought out plans.

And to me, he may appear reserved or quiet. He may be hesitant to make quick decisions without detailed information. And so in knowing his style. I slow myself down. I make sure that I gather the data, case studies, detailed plans that might support my recommendations for Tom and his company. I provide him with the analysis that he needs so that he can feel confident in his decision.

And let me tell you, as a high ID, I need help. I need team members to help me gather that data and organize it because it is not my natural tendency or style. So this is where you really start leaning on your team to help you put together a presentation that matches more with the selling style or the buying style, of your potential client.

So here's how the meeting might go. If it was just me doing it off the cuff, well, first of all, as an ID style, I probably would do it off the cuff. But in selling to Tom, I really took my time to prepare in advance. I start the meeting with a really brief introduction, not a lot of personal information.

And I quickly shift to presenting my analysis of Tom's business. I shared specific examples of how our services have helped similar companies achieve significant gains. I shared Spreadsheets and charts that outline the potential improvements in operations for his company and the projected cost savings if he takes our recommendations.

And this gives Tom everything that he needs. Or that data driven proof and detailed planning. And instead of focusing solely on relationship building like I might normally, I share my expertise. I show the meat and the guts of what we would actually be doing in working with Tom.

And I give him the researched insights and practical solutions so that I'm earning his trust by sharing. My competence and the competence of our organization. by understanding his C style and shifting my presentation to match his needs. He feels more confident in hiring us as consultants because he knows that I'm respecting his decision making style.

By the end of all of this, we also schedule time to follow up and go through his questions. We give him time to review the proposal digest it and come back with his detailed list. And every C Style that I've ever sold to comes back with multiple questions afterwards.

So just make that part of your sales process. It may seem slow to you depending upon your type and style, or if you're part of the C Style, it would be exactly what you'd expect you would do. 

That gives you an idea of how this looks in real life. What are the benefits of understanding these styles and psychological triggers?

The first part is reduced miscommunication. When you tailor your communication approach to your potential client, it reduces friction, misunderstandings, and you meet the person where they are when you're in the selling process. It also enhances your clients relationships. 

Everybody just wants to be seen, heard, and understood.

And by respecting your potential client's style, you build a stronger trust based relationship right from the outset. And even if you end up not closing the sale, you've left your potential client, or you've left that sales interaction with them, realizing that you really heard them, that you understood them and that you potentially can shift your style to match what their needs are.

And even if they say no, they might become a great referral partner for you. Another benefit is that it increases your sales success. And who doesn't want that? You can close deals more efficiently because you've aligned your approach with your potential client's preferences, which reduces the amount of time that you have to spend going back, re explaining, starting over, having multiple meetings.

It just simplifies the entire process. And the quicker that you can get to a decision moment with that potential client, the better for everybody. And then finally, One of the best benefits I think of using this process, looking at psychological triggers and using the DISC assessment, is better client retention.

Because you've built rapport and connection with that potential client right from the start. Even in the sales process, even in the marketing process before the sales process and clients that receive that kind of connection are more likely to remain loyal, become great referral partners, become return clients because you've demonstrated that you understand their unique needs and you've provided tailored solutions and conversations for them.

This example illustrates how awareness of both your own style and your client's style can improve communication, strengthen relationships, and increase the likelihood of successful sales outcomes. 

To give you the real reel of what this looks like over here for me, once I started using the DISC assessment to revamp my sales process, it helped me understand my client's unique personalities and it increased my close rate by 30%, which is amazing. And it also made sales a whole lot less stressful, because I would have a game plan for the different type of conversation for each of those styles. And that 30 percent is like going from crawling through a marathon to sprinting a victory lap. All that happened was I simply started shifting my style and communication to meet clients where they are.

Pretty cool, right? so what are our key takeaways? First, psychological triggers aren't just buzzwords. They are powerful tools that can transform your sales approach. And second, the DISC sales assessment isn't just a personality test. It is a roadmap into your client's heart and mind.

And let's be real, who wouldn't want to be able to connect with people in that way? in recapping, understanding psychological triggers and using the disc assessment can help you tailor your sales strategy to fit your client's personalities, close deals faster, and build lasting relationships.

And incorporating psychology into your sales isn't just smart, it's essential, it's human. It's the difference between being just another pitch and becoming an unforgettable part of your client's journey. 

If you are ready to unlock your sales potential, give yourself 20 minutes, take the disc sales assessment today and tailor your approach to boost your success rate, your connection with your clients and close those sales.

You'll find the link to take the assessment in the show notes. And if you found today's episode helpful, find me on LinkedIn at Don Andrews and share a little bit with me about what you found great about today's episode. if it was helpful, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with a fellow business owner who could use a little sales mojo.

And for more resources on communication and sales psychology, head over to dawnandrews.com, in the article section for more exclusive tips and insights. let's turn those leads into loyal fans together. Thanks for tuning in my good woman.

Until next time, keep rocking your business and living your best life. I'm Dawn Andrews. Have a fabulous day.

If you found today's episode valuable, please share it with fellow business owners who might benefit. And don't forget to subscribe to My Good Woman for more insights and strategies to help you transform from founder to confident CEO. 

Until next time, keep striving, thriving, and staying impactful. I'm Dawn Andrews, and this has been My Good Woman, business strategy and time management for impactful female leaders.

See you next time.