41. Buyer Psychology - How people make decisions to purchase

Sales & Business Growth for Busy Women | Sales Skills, Marketing Strategy, Lead Generation, Time Management for Women in Business

People buy from people they like, know, and trust. Fact or fiction?

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your resident sales and business nerd Lindsay Fletcher, and I’m so glad you’ve joined me for this episode. I’m just going to dive right into today’s topic because this is one of my favorite topics in sales. I hope that the info that I’m about to share will help you in your conversations. We, you and me, are going to talk about buying styles - how people make the decision to buy.

Buyer psychology is absolutely fascinating to me and there is so much to it. Today we are going to hone in on how people make decisions to buy and I’m going to give you a framework AND a worksheet on this so you can print it, post it, put it in your planner - I’m a paper planner girl so I’d do that, but you can also save it to your phone or computer and reference it. It will definitely help you understand your buyers better!!!

There are 4 main buying styles or decision making style categories that people fall into when they are deciding to make a purchase. So without further adieu, let’s get into the good stuff here.

If you are taking notes, you should go to my website because I’m going to make your life a lot easier. Head over to my website https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources and click on the “buying styles guide” button. Drop your email and I’ll send you a link to download this PDF so you can follow along. Don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you hit pause to go do that!

Something we hear a lot in sales is “People buy from people they like, know and trust.” and I’ve actually heard this a lot lately, but is that really the case? Today I’m going to walk you through the 4 major buying styles and how that impacts people and their decisions to buy from you (or not). I’ll let you decide for yourself if this statement is true or not. After learning about buying styles and applying it to almost all conversations, I no longer believe that statement is entirely true and I’ll explain.

The 4 main buying styles are Relators, Sympathizers, Analyzers, and Achievers. Each category’s name gives away a lot about who they are as buyers. There is no right or wrong type of buying style but rather this is how people internally make decisions. Now, just to be clear, these are generalizations and there are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but these 4 categories haven’t failed me yet. And I do want to point out that these are not personality types, they are how we make decisions to purchase a product or service or buy into a way of thinking.

As I’m going through these, I want you to examine yourself under the lens of buying styles. And then start examining people that you know - your spouse, your best friend, your sister or brother, your parents. I’m telling you this is fascinating stuff!!!

Let’s dive into to buying styles.

First up is Relators. Relators are all about relationships and recognition. They are typically warm and talkative. They buy from people they like. They want you to know them and they want to know you. If you are selling to a Relator, you’ll need to build rapport and build your relationship. Relators can be a little impulsive with decisions because they are fast paced. You’ll also describe this type of buyer as personable, outgoing, and quite the conversationalist. They also love compliments and recognition.

Relators as a whole don’t enjoy making decisions because they are people pleasers at heart. They want you to like them and they may even feel the need to impress you. And because their natural tendency is to worry about what others think of them, they often need help in making decisions, and their indecision may be caused by their reluctance in appearing as though they are rejecting you. So, to make it easier on Relators in the buying process, you’ll want to build social proof by sharing how others are loving your product or service and reviews.

One thing to watch out for is that relators can and will also use their outgoing-ness to derail conversations if they want or need to. They can and will talk about other things to avoid talking about things they don’t want to talk about, so that’s something to watch out for when selling to relators.

To sum it up with Relators - they are all about the relationship and recognition.

Next up are Sympathizers. Like Relators, they want relationships but they also crave security. You’ll find Sympathizers to be warm and friendly, supportive, emotional, and concerned for others. Sympathizers are slow to make decisions and you’ll need to build trust before asking for the sale. They are people pleasers as well, but more in the sense that they want everyone to be happy, comfortable, secure with whatever they decide.

Because safety and security are key for Sympathizers, they often avoid decisions and will get caught in “analysis paralysis”. They are less motivated by rewards and recognition, and more motivated by reduction of risk. You’ll have to walk them through identifying the risks involved for them. Then you’ll need to remove those risks, give them time, and help them recognize their decision to move forward is a safe one. You can label this group as “Rather safe than sorry”. Outline what happens for them what happens if they aren’t happy with your product or service after they purchase.

Sympathizers are all about relationships and security.

Moving on to Analyzers. Analyzers are all about security and outcomes. However, the security isn’t the same type of security as Sympathizers. Analyzers are just that - they analyze the heck out of decisions. They are not emotionally driven when making purchases, so they won’t be swayed by your enthusiasm or your charm. You’d describe Analyzers as detail-oriented, logical, data- and fact-driven, and organized. They will ask a lot of questions and they will do their own research. Their need for security is that they want to make the “right” decision so they will research all of the options and they love peer reviews.

When selling to an analyzer, you’ll need to be organized, well-versed, and ready for questions and objections. Because they are logic- and fact-driven, they will question the accuracy of your claims and will have a hard time not interrupting you if your proof isn’t accurate and well documented. Analyzers make very rational, logical decisions once they see this is the right purchase for them and you’ve eliminated risks.

Analyzers are outcomes or results and security driven.

And then last but not least, are your Achievers. Achievers are recognition and outcome driven. Achievers are quick to make decisions and results driven. They want to know if it checks the boxes or not. You’ll likely describe this group as risk takers because they aren’t afraid of change and they often initiate it. Achievers want you to be direct and to the point, and will often ask questions on “doing”. They also have facts and will try to avoid emotions because that slows them down.

Achievers love making decisions and are most often motivated by their bottom-line benefits. You’ll want to make sure that you let the decision be their own. Let them tell you what their benefits will be and they will sell themselves. Remember that they are motivated by benefits that will help them achieve certain results or help them appear in charge.

Now, I need to make something very clear about achievers: Trusting you and liking you are two different things. If achievers don’t trust you they will not buy from you. Achievers have to trust you but they don’t have to like you to buy from you if your product or service will get them closer to their goals.

Ok so those are your 4 buying styles. Now, most people have a combo of two. A third buying style can be learned with some education, training, or may come with a certain type of profession. You’ll notice that many people’s professions gravitate toward their buying style - that’s why you’ll see lots of accountants and financial people are analyzers. You’ll see lots of nurses as Sympathizers and Analyzers. Again, these are generalizations and not every nurse or accountant is going to fall into those buying styles but it can be an indicator.

This whole episode was inspired by a friend who also happens to own multiple businesses. We were talking about buying styles and it turns out that we have the same combo: Achiever and Relator. However, she has more relator than I am. For example, when selling a house, for example, we agreed that we don’t need to like you to choose you to sell our houses if we believe that you’ll get it done the fastest with the most money at closing. However, for something like lipgloss, for example, she has to like you and I don’t have to like you to buy lipgloss from you. So we analyzed why and here’s where we landed. She wants to like you because she’s probably going to buy that lipgloss again if she likes it and she wants to like whomever she’s buying from on repeat products or services because she’ll have to talk to you more than once. And on the flip side, I don’t need to like you for something like lipgloss and I’m not going to spend time finding someone else that sells the same lipgloss. I do want to like you and if I like you it makes it that much easier for me to buy from you, but I don’t have to like you. So I’d say I’m like 5% relator and 95% achiever.

Now when it comes to my husband making a purchase, he is your classic analyzer. He will research all of the options and make sure that the one he’s going to purchase does all of the things that it’s supposed to and that he’s exhausted all of the other options on the market. He’s outcomes driven but wants the security that he’s purchasing the best option.

If you’ve downloaded my Buying Styles Guide, you’ll see that I have these buying styles in a pie chart and the more you analyze your own buying style and others’ buying styles you’ll notice there are certain types of buyers that you don’t click with as easily and those are most often the ones on the opposite side of the pie. They are typically opposite of how you make these types of decisions. So, for me as an achiever, for example, sympathizers tend to be the hardest for me to sell to because they are slow to make decisions and I’m fast paced. Our natural tendency is to sell in our own buying styles, but when you start asking questions and presenting offers in your customers’ buying style you’ll see your revenue increase and you’ll understand your customers wants and needs better.

So, here’s your homework: figure out your own buying style and then start figuring out your current customers’ buying styles. This takes practice but this will open up conversations in ways you wouldn’t believe once you get the hang of it. That’s why I created this free downloadable PDF for you - save it to your computer, post it on your wall, and put it in your planner or Bible or wallet or car. Seriously, the more you study this, and go back to it, the easier it gets and the better you’ll be at sales! So go to my website and download my Buying Styles Guide at https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources and click on the “Buying Styles Guide” button to get your free copy!

I'm praying for you and your business!

- Lindsay

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