Personality Profiling using DISC

A new client has asked me to deliver a series of workshops on DISC Personality Profiling. Having completed all the research and crafted all the material for it I thought that I would also blog about it as it is a seriously valuable tool for any organisation.

The acronym DISC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. These four personality traits were defined by an American psychologist called William Moulton Marston in 1928. He wrote about them in his book "Emotions of normal people" in his attempt to formulate a way of describing the emotional states of ordinary americans. He did not actually develop the DISC methodology as we know it today, that came form a close friend of his. Marston was a larger than life character - he also designed the first lie detector and intriguingly also came up with the idea of Wonder Woman!

Here are a few benefits of the DISC profile methodology:

- Fast, accurate and cost effective
- Takes only 7-8 minutes
- Eliminates the need for guesswork
- Enables more effective people management
- Received a Certification of Registration from the British Psychological Society

I will write up more about DISC and what is stands for in a series of blogs over the next few days.

You can find out more by going to www.thomasinternational.net

Sales Presentations: 3 Steps to Put the Customer First- By Susan Trivers

I saw this blog and it made so much sense I thought I would post it in full here.

If you would like to link through to Susan's Blogsite The Great Speaking Coach then click here.

This is what Susan wrote: "You've been invited to deliver a presentation to a desirable customer. You and your team immediately go to your slide software and begin writing the presentation. You start with your corporate overview, continue with a lengthy description of your products or services and conclude with a summary of features and benefits.

What's wrong with this picture? For the customer, it's boring. There's nothing in it that is about them. Think about the presentation from the customer's perspective and do this instead:

1) Your opening tells a story about how your product or service solved a problem very similar to the one they are facing. Don't know their problem? Then find out before you write the first word on a slide.

* They don't care about your corporation until they know you care about them.

2) Everything you say about your products and services is in the context of their needs--often called their 'pain' or 'hot buttons.'

* It's better to delve deeply into your solution to one specific pain than to be broad and general.

3) When you've reached the end of your presentation, paint a picture of their future that includes the successful use of your product or service. As soon as you say 'summary' or "in closing" they stop listening.

* Helping them imagine their life after buying from makes them think "yes, I want that."

Great insights here. The key is to put the client first.