by Bob McElwain
Marketing types are fond of classifying people into > Intuitives ... use intuition. Concentrate on the > Thinkers ... analytical, precise, and logical. They > Feelers ... interested in the feelings of others. They > Sensors ... see things as they are and have great respect Which Best Suits You? Texts in psychology also often break people into types as While many of the people I have known might seem best suited The reason for defining such categories in marketing is to Situations Vary As Much As People Do If you are selling a computer, complete details will fill Visitors to your website may be predominantly one type or As buyers, personality types may not hold. Thoughtful, Other Models As suggested, there are other sets of categories into which Show-Me - This type doesn't care how it works. They only Prove-It - These people are not content until you have How-It-Works - This type wants only to know how it works; A Better Course Build your own definition of categories as I did above, If you can add these kinds of characteristics to your Cover The Bases Ignore personality types, and think in terms of behavior. You need a dandy first impression which immediately lends a
categories. Here are four which I took from "Differentiate Or
Die," by Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin. (John Wiley & Sons, New
York, 2000, p15.) Only the first few words of each are included
here.
possibilities. They avoid the details and tend to look at the
big picture.
process a lot of information, often ignoring the emotional
or feeling aspects of a situation.
dislike intellectual analysis and follow their own likes and
dislikes.
for facts. They have an enormous capacity for detail and seldom
make errors.
above. I have seen several dozen such definitions. Each is
often quite different from others. With apologies to Stout and
Rivkin (and many others), I don't find such groupings helpful.
to one definition, each includes key characteristics from the
others. Did you find one that suited you? Or are you one who
is some combination of two or more categories?
get a better focus on your Perfect Customer. If you can do so,
no doubt your dialog will be stronger. It is because of this
possibility that I included the above. Most, however, will not
want to slice things so thin.
a large book. Even the most dedicated fact finder doesn't want
that much information. On the other hand, if you're selling
balloons, what details are available?
another, but this depends to a large extent upon what you are
offering. If you are selling lures to fisherman, you are going
to meet all of these types, and combinations of them.
introspective people may buy after just a glance, particularly
if they're in a hurry. The impulsive type who generally buys
with little thought, may become engrossed in the tiniest details
and refuse to make a decision until all questions have been
answered.
people can be grouped. Hundreds have been published. Here's
one that works pretty well for me.
want to know what it does, and specifically what it will do for
them. Pictures and drawing work well with this type. Simple
descriptions of what the product does also work.
provided evidence to support every assertion made. If you say
something about your product you can not demonstrate, you will
lose this customer.
they will make their own decision as to whether or not it works
well enough. Details make this type happy. And they want a
clear definition of each product feature.
based on what you have learned about your target. If most
interested in your product want details, provide them. If most
want facts, list them all. If they want only an overview, give
one that is brief and to the point.
definition of your Perfect Customer, so much the better. Most,
however, will find this difficult to do, even impossible. So
unless dictated by your product or other specific conditions,
here is the better plan for presenting information.
When your Perfect Customer hits your site, chances are more than
a dozen sites have already been visited, and briefly. You have
only seconds to capture attention and draw this person into your
page and site.
sense of credibility and expertise. Next, you need a great
headline that grabs attention and provides a great benefit to
your Perfect Customer. You need captivating sub-headings
throughout the page, for most visitors will see only these
initially. And you need a clear link to an order form.
This of itself takes care of those in a hurry, regardless Rather than deciding whether or not your Perfect Customer Summing Up As you can see, I'm not convinced any personality traits Abstracted from "Your Path To Success" About the Author
Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success" and
of personality type. If anything on the page grabs attention
and reading begins, you can then provide other kinds of
information.
wants details, proofs, drawing, or whatever, the better plan
is to have all available. That is, let the headline and
sub-headings give a brief but comprehensive overview, for all
need this. Include further details and benefits under each
sub-heading. For extended details and "proofs," offer links
to a new page.
need to be added to your definition of your Perfect Customer.
Unless your target is clearly only one type, the better plan may
be to offer the essence of your product in the page, with links
to other information some may need.
_____________
"Secrets To A Really Successful Website." For
info, see
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