It starts with you.
Eight questions, five minutes. At the end you know your archetype and where your natural style helps or holds you back — which is half of every pair you'll read from here on.
Let's start with you, not your customers. Eight questions, five minutes, and at the end you'll have your profile — which is half of every pair we read together. First: think of a deal that went well recently. What did you do in the first five minutes of the first meeting?
I told them about a similar case at another customer. That's usually where I start, it comes naturally to show I've seen the problem before.
So you open with a story and social proof. That works well with people who decide on momentum, and becomes an obstacle with people who want to verify first. Second question: when a counterpart asks you for a document instead of answering you, what goes through your mind?
That they're stalling, honestly. I prefer deciding things in conversation.
That's the typical reaction from someone with your pace, and it's exactly where you'll lose deals that were winnable: for a portion of your counterparts, asking for a document isn't an excuse, it's how they decide. We'll come back to this in your profile.
Your profile
Where your style helps
- You build trust quickly with people who decide on momentum
- You tell the use case and the social proof well
- You keep energy up even through long cycles
Where it holds you back
- With an Architect your opening reads as noise: anchor everything to evidence
- You risk mistaking a counterpart's enthusiasm for a decision
- With a Builder haste costs you: he needs a path, not momentum
Change it. Your profile is yours, and you can edit it whenever you like.