• Marketing to Different Buyer Personalities

    Oct. 10, 2012
    As buyers become more high-tech, we as marketers have to become more sophisticated in our approach when we reach out to them. As our economy continues to stall, we need to become as effective as possible when it comes to attracting new customers.

    As buyers become more high-tech, we as marketers have to become more sophisticated in our approach when we reach out to them. As our economy continues to stall, we need to become as effective as possible when it comes to attracting new customers. Have you heard about the different buyer personality types? People buy or are motivated to buy by different reasons. In order to market to different buyers, it’s a good idea to review the psychology behind what motivates these buyers. Nobody is all one type of buyer, everybody is a mix of all of these types, but most people have a predominant personality type.

    Psychologists have named these different buyer types, expressives, analyticals, amiables, and drivers. They’re also known as relationship buyers, technical buyers, security buyers, and novelty buyers. Let’s get to know them and figure out how to give them what they need so they can buy from you.

    The Relationship Buyer, (Expressive) as the term suggests that this type of buyer wants to develop a relationship with your sales person and possibly your company. Think of this as the buyer making the salesperson a partner in meeting his or her needs. This type of customer may befriend you on Facebook or connect with you on LinkedIn or Twitter. They tend to take up much of the salesperson’s time but they tend to be loyal customers. Expressives – often make quick decisions and are future and idea oriented. Expressives love involvement, excitement, and they need to be accepted by others. They are sociable, and they tend to be spontaneous, outgoing, energetic, and friendly.

    So how do you reach out to this personality type? Interactive websites tend to excite them and they enjoy interacting with companies. You often find this type of individual in sales and marketing fields although not always. Once you identify this personality type, you must engage them on a personal level.

    The Technical Buyer (Analytical) wants facts. This person will often develop a spreadsheet for important decisions. They base their decisions on facts they gather from various websites as they conduct their research. The technical buyer uses facts and tends to like order and precision and they have methodical ways in which they conduct themselves. Analyticals concern themselves with being organized, having all the facts, and are cautious in making their decisions before acting. They have a strong need for accuracy, precision, and orderliness. Usually, they focus on facts and use data.

    Analytical buyers often have jobs in engineering and accounting. Marketing can have a significant influence on helping this buyer make a decision, by providing factual data and by focusing on the value of the company’s unique value proposition. Tools that marketing can provide for addressing this buyer concerns should include data sheets, application data, and technical whitepapers.

    The Security Buyer (Amiable) strives to avoid making wrong decisions but instead of doing analytical research they tend to place a lot of value on the experience of peers. Amiables want personal security and acceptance. Personal relationships are very important to them and will sometimes sacrifice their own ambitions in order to win approval from others. They are people-oriented and use opinions rather than facts and data.

    You can use marketing to address this buyer’s concern with endorsements, references, and success stories. People often consider amiables to be the social life of the party types. Amiables will most often go with recommendations from friends and families but they will also read reviews and testimonials on your website in lieu of direct recommendations from friends.

    Personally, I don’t like this name, but the novelty buyer is a “driver” or type “A” personality. They tend to live their lives on the leading edge, are often early adopters. This personality type rarely wants to waste time on personal talk or preliminaries. A driver personality type is usually action and goal oriented, and needs to see results. They often make quick decisions. This buyer typically uses and relies on facts and data to make his or her decisions.

    Drivers are typically executives, entrepreneurs, business owners, they are risk takers, and may need a high level of support; however, they will provide you with a return on investment by acting as a reference for your other buyers. As a marketer, you must provide easy access to facts and information so this buyer can decide on the product he plans to buy.

    As marketers and sales people, it’s in our best interests to learn and understand these different personality types, in order to provide them with the information they need in order to make an informed buying decision. When designing websites, take this information into accord so that you provide the information and the kind of presentation that each of these buyers need. This is just a very shallow look at personality types and you can go into more depth on the subject if you care to do some Internet research.

    Here’s a little exercise to try. Draw a box with four squares in it. Place analyticals in the upper left hand box, drivers in the upper right hand box, expressives in the lower right hand box, and amiables in the lower left hand box. Personality types that are diagonally across from each other have the most difficulty understanding each other. Personality types that share an adjoining box easily relate to one another. Identify your personality type and then think of whom you most have trouble getting along with and you might begin to understand why that happens when compared to the descriptions above.

    My website contains links to all the marketing articles I’ve written for the HVAC-Talk Newsletter. If you are interested in pre-purchasing a copy of my new book, Navigating the Marketing Maze, click here. If you need a branding consultation, a complete strategic marketing plan, or help with marketing services, call or send an email to discuss your needs.

    Andy Fracica is president and CEO of Fracica Enterprises, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in marketing, and social media strategy. He has over 30 years of sales, marketing, and product management experience in the heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) industry. He concentrates on helping companies deliver their message in an ever increasingly crowded market by helping HVAC dealers market themselves with less ($). Contact him at 260-338-4554, [email protected] or visit the Fracica Enterprises, Inc. website.