Can Understanding Cognitive Diversity Make You Better at Sales?

Sales is a simple process complicated by the fact that it involves people. Ultimately, we want people to understand our products and services and make a decision to purchase them. But in a world where so many options are available to us it can be difficult for people to make that decision and this is why sales people need to be highly skilled and why they can make a very good living.

A good sales person has the ability to influence decision making and perhaps many people’s image of a sales person is somebody who knows how to use manipulative tricks to make you buy from them. This may work once or twice but offers little longevity and certainly doesn’t build trust.

What is really needed is to understand the customer, how they think, how they process information, what they enjoy and what causes them stress. If we do this, we can better understand their problems and as a result, offer more effective and appealing solutions.

It would therefore make sense that understanding how people differ cognitively could be very valuable to a sales person. By developing proper understanding we can become more adjustable in our approach and through that adjustability we can better cater for our customers and build prosperous and lasting relationships.

Let’s look at some of the key areas of cognition under the Aspiedent framework:

Processing

Different people process information in different ways and at different speeds, we have to be careful not to assume each individual processes information in the same way.

How somebody processes will not only influence how they take in information but may impact how they make decisions. People with delayed processing or slower processing may need more time. Then, when you provide this you gain their trust. Putting them under pressure may increase the chances of your outcome being negative When all that was really needed was better understanding. If your customer processes in a more fragmented way, ensuring that you clarify understanding can be crucial.

Another thing to note is how individuals better receive information, whether it is in spoken words, written information or even diagrams, presenting information in the right way can be very impactful.

You can read more about processing from the numerous blog posts Aspiedent have published on this subject.

Sensory

This may not be so obvious but sensory issues can be a major stress point for many people. It may be that underestimating how somebody cannot stand the smell of your favourite aftershave or perfume, or struggles to focus in noisy environments can drastically influence the quality of your interactions.

It may prove difficult to establish an individual’s sensory preferences by asking directly, but through paying attention, being curious and not limiting the conversation to business you can pick up on a lot of clues.

If you are looking to entertain a customer and you have put consideration into this, you can build a positive and lasting impression.

Thinking

People think in different ways and you might find that people who work in a procurement role will think differently to how a sales person might.

For example, it helps to know whether someone is a strategic thinker or someone who prefers to focus on details. Once you have established this, you will have some idea of how they like to solve problems and you can align your approach to this preference. Offering solutions in a way that doesn’t align with how someone thinks can lead to poor understanding and confusion.

It may also be that by paying attention to how they learn you can get a clearer idea on how you can more effectively transfer information to them, making your approach much more impactful.

Focus and interest

We desire our customers focus but not all people focus in the same way and it can be lost easily. Honing in on and understanding interests can be key to building successful relationships. It may be that a long meeting, or emails are very counter productive for certain types of customer.

Paying attention to and sharing interests can really help to build connection with people. This is often even the case when small talk and social emotional reciprocity is difficult.

Understanding how an individual’s focus works and what interests them requires a lot of curiosity.

So how do we do this?

The best thing you can do if you are a sales manager and you want your team to have these skills is to arrange an “Interactive cognitive diversity workshop” with Aspiedent where they will obtain an understanding of the range of cognitive diversity and they types of questions that can help reveal what an individual’s preferences might be.

Generally, cognitive preferences will be revealed through being genuinely curious about the person you are communicating with and taking your interactions beyond business. Exploring experiences and interests will reveal a lot about a person and the types of interactions and environments they enjoy.

Equip your sales people with this knowledge and skills and you will enable them to solve problems better, build better relationships and deliver better proposals.