Selling to the fourth person

At one time I looked into selling cars. I even got as far as the second interview before I decided that it just wasn't right for me. Long story short, I walked away from the interview with a deeper understanding of selling because of a question that was posed in the interview, which was " Anybody can sell to three out of the four personality types [Extrovert, Amiable, Analytical and Pragmatic], but a good salesman can sell to all four. Can you sell to all four?"

I was floored with this question until I thought of it more. It really was true! If you are good at what you do, you should be able to relate to everyone that walks in the door.


Case in point, my new ritual on the weekends is to visit this great coffee place in Coralville to sit and read. Upon my first visit there Robert, one of the co-owners, engaged me in conversation and gave me background on the company. He even suggested a book that I read about selling. His philosophy, he told me "was to read everything. That way I know a little bit about everything, because we are all salesman." As I proceeded to sit down and sip my coffee and read my book, I watched as he engaged each customer in conversation, all from various walks of life and social status.

The Selling Point: Not only do your sales and marketing team need to be well versed in your product, but they need to have a deep understanding and ability to relate to your customer. Being able to sell to the fourth person is essential to success in an already competitive marketplace. This ability could be the difference between your company's success or failure. So make sure that you routinely work with your team to identify areas of communication they can improve upon when communicating with prospective clients.


As an aside: The coffee place is Terrapin Coffee, and the co-owners are Robert and David Meyers. Thanks for the great coffee!