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5-7
5. Use specific questions that show clear direction.
6. Once you have information concerning the prospect’s needs, present proposal in a
slow, deliberate fashion without pressure.
7. Do not be in too big a hurry to close the sale.
8. Never pressure the Reflective person to make quick decisions.
F. Building relationships with supportive customers
1. Take time to build personal relationship.
2. Spend time learning about the matters that are important in this individual’s life.
3. Be professional but friendly.
4. Study feelings and emotional needs as well as technical and business needs.
5. Throughout presentation, provide personal assurances and support for their views.
6. Curb the desire to disagree too assertively.
7. Be patient. Give time to comprehend your proposal.
G. As you develop your style identification skills:
1. You will become more adept at style flexing skills.
2. Should be able to open more accounts, sell more to established customers, and more
effectively meet the pressures of competition.
3.
Your customers will view you as a person better able to understand and meet their
needs.
H. The Platinum Rule: The heart of the style-flexing sales strategy
1.
Created by Dr. Tony Alessandra
2.
Provides each of us with the motivation we need to treat others the way they want to
be treated.
3. Rule is a simple, proven method for building strong relationships with our customers.
4. At the heart of the style-flexing sales strategy
5.
When we take time to determine whether the customer is behaving as an Emotive,
Directive, Reflective, or Supportive, we can then treat them the way they want to be
treated.
I. Word of caution
1. Look for additional information about a person versus just placing a label on the
person.
2. To build an effective partnering type of relationship with a prospect, you must acquire
additional information about that person.
3. Do not let your own label make you inflexible.
4. Try not to let the label justify or reinforce why you are unable or unwilling to
communicate effectively with others.
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END-OF-CHAPTER ACTIVITES
Included in this section are answers to selected end-of-chapter exercises. Answers are
provided for all review questions, application exercises, and case problems. Also, a brief
description of each role-play is provided.
Not included in this section are answers to the Regional Accounts Management Case
Regional Accounts Management Case Study.
Also not included in this section are answers to exercises related to Appendix 3:
“Partnership Selling: A Role-Play/Simulation.” Answers, forms, and instructions related to
titled Traditional Role Play Exercises and Forms.
Key Terms
Personality, p. 91: The thoughts, feelings, and actions that characterize someone are generally
viewed as their personality.
Communication style, p. 92: The patterns of behavior that others observe can be called
communication style. “Behavior styles” and “social styles” are additional terms frequently
used to describe these patterns of behavior.
Adaptive selling, p. 92: Adaptive selling is defined as altering sales behaviors in order to
improve communication with the customer. It relates to a salesperson’s ability to collect
information regarding the customer’s needs and to respond appropriately.
Communication style bias, p. 92: Communication style bias is a state of mind that
almost every one of us experiences from time to time, but usually find difficult to explain the
symptoms. Communication style bias can develop when we have contact with another person
whose communication style is different from our own.
Dominance, p. 94: Dominance can be defined as the tendency to control or prevail over others.
Sociability, p. 95: Sociability reflects the amount of control we exert over our emotional
expressiveness
Emotive style, p. 96: Emotive style is a communication style that combines higher sociability
and higher dominance.
Directive style, p. 98: A style that combines higher dominance and lower sociability is called
directive style
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Reflective style, p. 99: Reflective style is a combination of lower
dominance and lower sociability.
Supportive style, p. 101: A combination of lower dominance and higher sociability is a
communication style is called the supportive style.
Versatility, p. 104: Versatility is used to describe our ability to minimize communication
style bias.
Style flexing, p. 107: Style flexing is the deliberate attempt to adapt one’s communication
style to accommodate the needs of the other person.
Platinum Rule, p. 109: The Platinum Rule (www.platinumrule.com) is at the heart of the style-
flexing sales strategy. When we take time to determine whether the customer is behaving as
an Emotive, Directive, Reflective, or Supportive, we can then treat them the way they want
to be treated.
MyMarketingLab
To complete the problems with the * in your MyLab, go to the EOC Discussion Questions.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
5-1 What is the meaning of the term communication style?
5-2 Describe the five major principles that support communication style theory.
The principles that support communication-style theory are:
5-3 What are the benefits to the salesperson that understands communication style?
Benefits derived from understanding communication styles are:
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Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.
5-4 What two dimensions of human behavior are used to identify communication style?
The two dimensions are dominance and sociability.
5-5 Describe the person who tends to be high in sociability.
5-6 What are the four communication styles? Develop a brief description of each of the styles.
The four communication styles are:
5-7 What is the reaction of most people who study communication styles for the first time?
5-8 Define style flexing. How can style flexing improve sales productivity?
5-9 Explain the statement, “Your greatest strength can become your greatest weakness.”
A person’s greatest strength usually becomes his/her greatest weakness when his/her
behavior moves into the excess zone. When each style moves into the excess zone, the
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Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.
SUGGESTED ANSWERS FOR APPLICATION EXERCISES
5-10. This exercise is designed to help students better understand the concept of communi-
5-12. This exercise is designed to help students apply the information in this chapter. The
5-13. This activity will give the student important practice in adapting to different
5-14. Students will find several documents for each of these personality profiles. The
relationship between these two theories and this chapter is that they both provide information
ROLE-PLAY EXERCISE
This role-play exercise will give students an opportunity to practice style flexing. Prior to
the role-play, students should study chapter material on style flexing and information on how to
sell to persons with the Director communication style.
SOLUTION FOR THE CASE PROBLEM
5-15. Ray should remain a supportive listener to the strong statement that will be made by Vera
Maynard. In addition, Ray will need to be very well prepared for the meeting. He should
5-16. Vera Maynard needs to take time to build a social relationship with Ray. She needs to be
5-17. It requires a real effort to look beyond the label and get to know the whole person. You
