“Not all buyers are created equal.”

Just because your sales pitch worked on one person does not guarantee it will work on another. With a wide range of guests that enter our gyms, everyone will have varying levels of interest in fitness. In addition, the guests will also have different communication styles.

There is no magical technique to build rapport with everyone, and it’s definitely natural to “hit it off” with some people yet struggle to get flow to conversations with others. Fitness professionals drastically increase their chances of success by adapting their presentation to the guest’s preferred communication and buying style. This will support the flow of conversation and make it easier for the guest to purchase fitness services.

Assertives

Assertives can come across unfriendly or even aggressive. They try to control the conversation because they want to show their power and hate to have their time wasted. Because of this, the sales presentation usually gets expedited and it becomes increasingly challenging to go through the entire process and identify the Assertive’s X-factor/Hot Button that will pull the entirety of the sale together.

In these scenarios, fitness professionals are best to hand over the control to the buyer to please their underlying desire for dominance. Additionally, the seller should skip a lot of the small talk and only communicate relevant information that will help the transaction move forward. Assertives DO NOT want to be sold, so it’s best to teach them why your solution is the best available for them and let them make the buying decision.

Amiables

Personally, Amiables are my favourite type of buyer. These are the guests that prefer to build personal relationships before business relationships. They are calm, friendly, and outgoing. They enjoy going through a step-by-step consultative sales process and learning how your solution will help them.

When selling fitness services to Amiables, fitness professionals should avoid rushing the process and attempt to build a lifelong customer. Amiables are able to make quick decisions if they are presented with a limited number of buying options – this is because they tend to choose the popular and safe option that has a high level of satisfaction guarantee. Fitness professionals should create a trusted-advisor perception in order to guide their new friend into the best solution for them.

Expressives

Known to rely on their gut instincts and own intuition, Expressives are subjective decision makers. They are highly confident, social buyers who are emotional and impulsive. They are attracted to products and services that have a track record for success – this makes it easier for them to rationalize their decisions later on.

Fitness professionals who have identified their prospect as an Expressive should ensure they have identified a strong X-factor/Hot Button that will help the buyer connect their impulses to their emotions. Lastly, to appeal most to the Expressive’s buying/communicating style, try presenting your services as convenient, fun, inexpensive, and problem-free.

Analytics

Analytics are research-focused, number crunchers who make buying decisions using facts rather than emotions. They are more difficult to have a conversation with because they are mostly introverted and want real data to support your claims. Analytics are detailed-oriented and will ask many specific questions and will avoid making a buying decision until they are 99.9% confident.

When handling an Analytics, fitness professionals should deliver a factual presentation and create a pressure-free environment. Analytics will need more time to make a buying decision because they are prone to overanalyzing the decision. For fitness professionals to have the most success, they should provide these buyers with as many facts as possible and use their time to make them feel confident.