Before we dive into sales versatility, I want to share with you one of my favorite affirmations…

“Our job as a great salesperson is to help our prospects overcome their natural fear and hesitation to achieve the goal that they have set.”

Our prospects connect with us for a reason. They want to either sell or buy, so you’d think it would be easy to move them forward, wouldn’t you? And yet, you and I know it’s not that easy. Prospects often get stuck in their fear and indecision, and consequently need us to help them take that next step.

Years ago, the real estate industry was warned that the Internet was going to make us extinct. There were predictions that people would simply go online to buy or sell entirely on their own, without any assistance needed from a real estate professional. While we’re all aware that many (if not most) home sellers and buyers begin their education and searches online, the overwhelming majority still ultimately seek out a qualified real estate professional to help them with their transaction.

We know they need us because we have knowledge of the market, we can help them navigate through the contracts and inspections, and we can be that neutral party to negotiate the best situation possible. They also need us to help them make the right decisions and get unstuck.

I believe that great salespeople will always be among some of the highest-paid professionals because we have the power to persuade, motivate, and inspire! For luxury real estate professionals, sales versatility is the skill that keeps on giving back.

Sales Versatility Is Critical

Did you know that if we are not working to adapt to others, we are likely to repel 50-75% of the people we meet on any given day? Now that’s a scary thought, right? In an NLP course I took long ago, they said that more than 50% of the business we lose is not because we weren’t the most qualified, but potentially because we repelled them by being ourselves!

While we all have our unique personality style, our own processes for making decisions, and our own culture and set of beliefs, those qualities may not always sync well with others. Therefore, if we do not adapt to the style of our prospects and clients, we may experience an instantaneous break in rapport, or, even worse, no rapport at all.

Have you ever heard the phrase “chameleon-like”? In other words, just like a chameleon must adapt to their environment, we need to adapt to our customers. To do this, we need to work hard on improving our sales versatility, which is important because it’s difficult to be persuasive without rapport. At minimum, it will make it much more difficult to work with others.

Think about it this way — let’s say I speak only English, and you only speak Spanish. Due to the language barrier, it’s going to be difficult to effectively communicate. If I don’t find a way to bridge the communication gap, I won’t be able to connect with you and move the conversation forward, right? Even though I may only speak a few words of Spanish, and my pronunciation may be less than great, you would likely still appreciate my efforts in attempting to communicate with you.

With this in mind, remember that putting in the effort to adapt to a client’s style will typically be viewed as a sincere attempt to meet their individual expectations and sell to them the way they want to be sold to. Sales versatility is the skill that accomplishes this.

The DISC: Finding Your Client’s Dominate Style and Understanding Your Own

I know that it’s possible you have already taken the DISC assessment. If so, you will be familiar with your own personality profile. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the DISC assessment, and you will immediately be sent the report once you have. As you take the assessment, please don’t overthink your answers. Doing so may result in an inaccurate assessment. Simply answer instinctively and know that there is no right or wrong style — each result has both good and bad features.

If you took the DISC but it’s been a while, you may want to take it again. Once you really understand yourself, you are going to have a better understanding of how your style impacts others. It will also help you know the changes you must make in order to effectively adapt (i.e. sales versatility). I cannot stress just how critical your ability to adapt and instantly win rapport truly is!

As you review your DISC, you will notice you are not just one style, but a blend of styles. Take a close look at your dominant style because this is the one that will really shine. You will also notice your adapted style, which simply means how you behave when you are being observed.

Wouldn’t be great if we could give all of our clients the DISC assessment? Then we could really understand how they prefer to be communicated with! Since that’s not a realistic possibility though, you are going to need to be extra observant to determine their preferences so that you can quickly adapt your communication style to suit their individual needs.

For example, if we give a client a “high D” or “driver” label, we recognize that this is the most dominant of their styles. Therefore, if we speak to this most dominant style, we are at least communicating with them in their preferred method — and are less likely to turn them off.

My suggestion then is simple. Read (and then re-read) your DISC and it will give you key descriptors of each style so that you will know what to look for. This will be a great starting point in becoming a more effective communicator and improving your sales versatility.

You can take the DISC Assessment here: https://profiles.innermetrix.com/VO/3470a4ea.