Knowing your personality is actually not as hard as you imagine: There are great tools out there on the Web which can help you discover “you” in you (here’s one I tried in the past – pretty cool, I must say.) I’ve just discovered another personality discovery tool, which I will share with you in this blog post.
Well, if you are in an endeavour to know yourself and your clients/prospects better, you are in luck; I’ve been recommended a tool which I find very useful – I suggest you to try this personality calculator from Hiscox, an insurance company: http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-blog/personality-calculator/
Just as the name implies, you can ‘calculate’ your personality by answering 10 simple questions. Not only that, you can also ‘calculate’ your client’s personality to discover what kind of relationship dynamics you and your clients may have. This is very useful if you are a freelancer or small business owner who is trying to find out how to approach your clients better – and, ultimately, close more sales.
My interesting test results – and more
I’ve completed the test myself and according to my answer to the 10 questions asked, I am quite possibly a ‘Thinker’ – which is very accurate, by the way: I like to think long and hard before deciding on anything; I’m analytical and yes, I’m good at problem solving.
I’ve also completed my clients’ overall personality – also through 10 questions – and to my surprise, the dominant personality of my clients is ‘Visionary’ – again, this is pretty accurate: I work with business owners, marketers and decision makers from different industries who are go-getters, innovators and creators.
And here’s the more interesting part: I get suggestions on how to approach visionaries: I should focus on meetings than emails; I should write emails which are short, chatty and upbeat; I should highlight problems and the opportunities they bring; I should give them a new angle on the existing products/pitches/problems.
The tool offers some very good suggestions; considering my ‘thinker’ nature, before I approach my ‘visionary’ clients, I should create scenarios and prepare the possible creative solutions for each of them.
Takeaway
Whether you like it or not, in business – online or off line – we are dealing with people. As our business outcomes are often people-driven, knowing how to deal with the different personalities is the key in converting leads into clients – and retains them by developing a fruitful relationship.
There are many personality test tools out there to learn about yourself and your clients’ personality. But unfortunately, not many offer suggestions on how to use your personality traits to your advantage.
In my opinion, Hiscox’ Personality Calculator is one of the better on the Net. I recommend you to give the free tool a try and see whether it can help you better understand your clients – and yourself.