Dominant people
DISC type: D
Quick tip: Get to your point as quickly as possible.
Your behavior: Present yourself confidently and make eye contact. If in person, use a strong handshake.
Communication: Dominant people love action and challenge. When you are working up your pitch, use as many visual elements and verbs to convey excitement and need for whatever you are selling.
Always remember: Appeal to the Dominant person’s preference for big ideas and high level planning. Skip the fine details unless asked.
Email advice
Quick tip: Don’t be concerned with conveying friendliness and try to keep the content to less than four sentences.
A formula:
1.Greeting: Just their name “Name,”.
2.First sentence: State the primary result your solution achieves.
3.Second Sentence: Highlight the action to take.
An example:
Drew,
90% of employees who use Crystal write better emails, build healthier relationships, and do better business. I’d like to call you Thursday to give you a rundown on how this could help [company name]. How does 3pm work?
-Sam
Influential people
DISC type: I
Quick tip: Be friendly, engage in small talk.
Your behavior: Make eye contact, give a handshake, use hand gestures. Anything that conveys warmth, familiarity and an open attitude.
Communication: Influential people love to talk. Interjet their stream of consciousness with personal anecdotes and bits of information to make sure they don’t completely dominate the conversation.
Always remember: Influential people are usually visual people, so bring along any illustrations you can and follow up any key takeaways and action items in writing. You will win appreciation from the Influential person with your reference notes.
Email advice
Quick tip: Seek to create an authentic connection through common ground (but don’t force it.)
A formula:
1. Express appreciation/recognition via a sincere compliment.
2. Explain who you are and include personal details and connections (whether people/companies you connect on). Fit into their story.
3. Use an informal tone, as if speaking to a good friend you haven’t seen in awhile.
4. Give several choices for next steps (up to 3) and let them choose the next course of action.
An example:
Hey Drew,
I’m Sam, and I work as a product manager at ABC company. I know you guys have experienced awesome growth! Congrats.
With so many vendors out there, I know it can be overwhelming and frustrating to do all of the research required to select the right one. I’m here to help you sort through your options, get you the best fit for your needs and make sure we work together to get the job done.
Let’s talk this through. How about we hop on a call on Thursday? Send me your availability and I’ll set it up.
Thanks! Looking forward to it.
-Samantha
Steady people
DISC type: S
Quick tip: Ease into the conversation and apply no pressure.
Your behavior: Be accessible, let them know you’re there to help, and remain cheerful and warm. A steady person will pick up on aggression quickly and immediately shut down.
Communication: Ask them questions and given them time to respond, mirroring their supportive nature.
Always remember: You need to create trust with Steady person. Fit into their routine, define an agenda that is sent prior to the meeting and give them time to process and respond to your ideas.
Email advice
Quick tip: Give plenty of information about yourself and the purpose of your outreach. Make it obvious you’ve put a lot of thought into what you wrote.
A formula:
1. Greeting: Hello “Name”
2. First sentence: State your purpose and introduce yourself but avoid any bold claims or aggressive, action-oriented language.
3. Second Sentence: Ask them for their thoughts to provide structure for the response.
An example:
Hello Drew,
I spoke to our mutual friend Ryan and after we met, he mentioned that you would probably be interested in Crystal. We’re trying to help people communicate more effectively and he thought we might have some mutual interest to discuss.
I would jump at the chance to get together and talk this through. I would be happy to outline the benefits and best practices of using our software, or we could get together and I can walk you through Crystal in person.
Send me a few windows and your preferred meeting place and I would be happy to set the meeting on our calendars.
I sincerely look forward to meeting you.
Best,
Samantha
Calculating people
DISC type: C
Quick tip: Be punctual (or early) and dedicate time to prepare and research before the meeting.
Your behavior: Follow their body language cues. Most Calculating people are formal in person but will loosen up once they find common interests each of you can talk at length about.
Communication: Include all relevant details and data, providing the opportunity to learn more. No detail is too small.
Always remember: Calculating people are extremely objective. If you walk in and try to appeal to their personal side, you will fail. Know your facts and leave room to learn from the Calculating person. Never make any statements that cannot be backed up with fact.
Email advice
Quick tip: Be liberal with information, and choose accuracy over building personal rapport. Calculating people prefer email over phone calls so they can analyze every detail so don’t worry about how long your email might be.
A formula:
1. Greeting: Hi “Name,”
2. First sentence: Use formal language and correct grammar to create clarity
3. Second Sentence: Present your information in a clear and well- organized format, such as a bulleted list.
An example:
Hi Drew,
I’m reaching out in response to your online post about Artificial Intelligence and how it applies to our world today. I share an interest in innovative software that can be applied to our day-to-day lives and I wanted to introduce you to Crystal.
Crystal is a SaaS-based software that analyzes text to create predicted personalities. Here are some use cases for our tools and features:
I’d like to present some information to you and see if Crystal can solve or improve your team’s communication strategies. I think we could dive into an interesting discussion if your schedule has any windows in the near future; otherwise, I am more than happy to put together resources for you to read and discuss via email.
Thank you for your time, I’m looking forward to hearing back from you.
Best,
Samantha