How Well Do You Assess and Adapt to Others?

I happen to be certified in DISC which is a study of observed human behaviors. A DISC profile is generally created based on a respondent completing an assessment, answering a series of questions, about themselves.

A profile can tell you a lot about yourself and about other people. It can be used for …

Self improvement
As a part of the candidate hiring process
Evaluating an employee for a position move
Promoting team communications

Profiles can also be used by salespeople to make them better communicators with specific clients. There are even some tools, for example Crystal Knows and B.A.N.K. CODE, that will utilize AI to determine a person’s profile based on writing samples. However, you may not need any of these. It’s really not all that difficult.

The problem with assessments and AI tools is that they are going to do you little to no good when you are presented with an unplanned encounter like meeting someone face to face or screen to screen. What are you going to do? “Pardon me while I run this tool? Please take this assessment and then we can talk?” Uh … no.

If you want to be able to assess another’s behaviors, you only need two things. Eyes and ears. Ok, four things:) With these simple tools, you should be able to predict other’s behaviors, their preferences, and then adapt your communication style and content accordingly.

Here’s how it works. We all have a preferred communication style (note that we also generally have secondary styles) which will be disclosed by two variables … pace and focus. Pace will be fast or slow. Focus will be on either relationships or tasks. Your job, as an effective communicator, will be to match these two qualities.

That’s it! They go fast and you go fast. They want to talk about “people” stuff and now you do as well. Now, you also have your own preferred communication style. Mine happens to be fast paced and task focused. What happens when I meet someone who is slower paced and relationship focused?

I’d like to cut my wrists, but that’s not going to get me very far with this individual. They feel the same way about having to deal with me. This conversation is going to go nowhere … fast. If I’m the salesperson and they are the prospect … guess who needs to adjust? Who needs to adapt if they want to make this sale?

In its simplest form, it is first assess and then adapt. That’s the first step. The next step will take your conversation to the next level. Folks who are fast paced typically are more interested in the bottom line than the details of how you got there. Slower paced people are the opposite. This will give you clues on how to adjust your message.

Remember your eyes and ears? You need to be keenly aware of body language and other verbal clues. While this is an entirely different discipline, you know when your message is not being received in a positive manner. If you stay on this course, you will crash. Time to adapt and adjust.

You may also be seeing a communication shift to a secondary style. As stated, my primary style is fast and task (D in DISC). My secondary style is slow and task (C in DISC). I have been known to fluidly move between one and the other during any conversation. Both are task focused, but one looks for the bottom-line while the other needs the details.

If you would like to learn even more about this topic, please email me at craig@adaptive-business.com and ask me to send you a free “Selling With DISC” pack.

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!