Personality Styles 101

Personality Styles 101 - Today we’re going to discuss the D.I.S.C personality styles and how to use this system to have more influence with anyone you are speaking with, resulting in a higher level of communication and ultimately, developing these skills will be an asset to close more business or, increase your overall effectiveness when putting deals together.

It’s was something I learned early in my career...probably 20+ years ago now. What’s interesting is I use what I have learned probably on a daily basis, if not several times a week. Knowing first who we are and then, to identifying the traits in others has been invaluable over my career.  Remember the saying, people that are like each other tend to like each other and birds of a feather, flock together...it’s really true they’re not just “sayings” they are a fact of life. As Realtors, having a solid understanding of the various personality styles, and how to approach each of them, will be an asset and contribute to your success.

A good portion of our success stems from our ability to effectively communicate with others.  When we stop to think about it, it’s not just our ability to present our listing presentation to a seller or a buyer our value proposition. It’s more than just this. It’s handling negotiations or comes into play when converting leads into appointments.  It’s knowing HOW to present our value proposition, HOW to negotiate or HOW to convert leads into appointments based on WHO we’re speaking with that is the key to our success or, lack thereof.

Knowing who we’re speaking to, and what their preferred communications style is will either build up or break down the relationships we are working to form and dealing with on a regular basis. Knowing how to to do this, having a trained eye, what to look for and a trained ear, what to listen for will serve you well over the course of your career.

Let’s take an example from each...starting with what to look for.  At our core, all of us are either more task oriented or people oriented.  This also shows up in areas we may not really be aware of. For example, how people select the clothes they wear.  If you saw someone that was wearing clothing that was bright or had a busy pattern, (if you’re paying attention and have an awareness about this) we could conclude that they are likely to be more “people” oriented.  When you see someone dress more conservatively, solid “safe” colors, a more reserved look, you could conclude they are more “task” oriented.  Remember, these are just clues and initial indicators.

What we’re looking for here are speech patterns you may pick up on. Is the person you’re in conversation with talk fast or slow? Is their tone louder, or soft spoken? Are they higher energy or more methodical in the way they communicate? Both will be an indicator of the personality style you are dealing with. Again, when you have familiarized yourself with these patterns and with a good amount of practice, you will begin to see how you can use all of this to have a higher level of influence.

So, let’s take a closer look now at what the characteristics of the D.I.S.C styles.

The DISC is a behavior assessment tool based on the DISC theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston, which centers on four different behavioral traits, which today are called: dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance. This theory was then developed into a behavioral assessment tool by industrial psychologist Walter Vernon Clarke. There are many different versions of the questionnaire and assessment. Some date back to the 1940s while others are more recent.  Marston, after conducting research on human emotions, published his findings in his 1928 book called Emotions of Normal People. The DISC approach suggests people’s personalities fall into four categories. We all have some of each of the four in our make-up, while two of the four are most dominant. Let’s rev