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Is Your Prospect a Donald Trump?

by Bruce Lewolt on August 8, 2016

Donald_Trump.jpgPeople like Donald Trump are almost always exceptionally strong in a temperament factor that has a fancy psychological name but in the 7MTF Temperament Assessment is called the GoGetter. These people are normally very successful in business. The biggest mistake you can make with the GoGetter Temperament is to use a consultative, or trusted advisor selling method or to challenge them. To see this factor in action, consider how you might convince Donald Trump to change his statements on NATO members like Lithuania.



Understand & Adapt to What the GoGetter Overvalues

First of all, the GoGetter temperament factor causes people to magnify the importance of financial gain so much that it dominates the way they interpret events. So when Donald Trump looks at Lithuania, which is smaller than the state of Maine, he seems to give tremendous weight to the fact that they are not paying their fair share when it comes to NATO.  Now if GoGetter is not one of your dominant temperament factors, chances are you magnify the importance of other things. For example, you may give tremendous weight to what could go wrong, such as Vladimir Putin potentially interpreting a demand on Lithuania to meet their NATO financial obligations as an excuse to invade, which might lead to an unintended war, which might become nuclear, which might – well you get the picture.  As a result, when you meet with Trump to convince him to give unconditional support to NATO and specifically Lithuania, an argument quickly results with the each of you convinced that the other doesn’t understand the real issue.

The same thing happens when you try to get GoGetters to see the value in you as a trusted advisor or in the non-financial benefits of working with your company.  In addition, they are so strategic and driven to win while at the same time so personally persuasive, that they will win before you ever start competing. Just ask the Donald’s Republican rivals. In sales this means they maneuver to always keep you on edge and then suck all your profit out of the deal before you ever knew what hit you. It is all about the deal.

Example

Case in point is a friend of mine who worked for months to get the opportunity to present a proposal to Donald Trump.  He was told he had 30 minutes but when he entered Mr. Trump’s office, Donald told him how valuable his time was and that my friend had to prove this meeting would be valuable before Donald would give him the full 30 minutes or even let him sit down at the presentation table.  Luckily my friend had done his homework on Donald’s temperament and responded brilliantly which impressed Donald, who granted him the full meeting time.  

Presenting to a GoGetter

If you want to achieve your goals with a GoGetter you must adapt the way you act, speak and present to what they overvalue.   This means matching their bravado and finding ways to let it slip that you are very successful. GoGetters love dealing with other winners. In the presentation focus on the financial gain, don’t get caught up in details, be prepared to get down to the deal terms quickly and never lead with your best price or terms. Then negotiate confidently and professionally like a worthy competitor but in the end make sure they believe they have won a special deal.   

Two final things. First, never let a GoGetter send you to deal with a subordinate. Be bold if they initiate this type of brush off - even to the point of asking them if they think you are a loser.  Just hope that they say no and then follow-up with a statement to the effect of, I’m prepared to give you special deal terms but only if we work directly with one another so let's talk the deal. Second, with the GoGetter, enough is never enough. So make any deal contingent on them signing a binding contract right then and there. If you don’t, when you show up with the paperwork a few days later they will demand an even better deal.

Inside Sales, Call Centers and the GoGetter

If your team sells lower ticket items - perhaps from a call center where your agents can’t negotiate price, you may think you have to resign yourself to losing the sale when you encounter a GoGetter.  However, even in these circumstances you can easily train your agents to recognize when they are talking to a GoGetter and adapt their sales conversation to meet their temperament. For example, to the GoGetter time really is money, so have the reps over emphasize that they are going to personally help the GoGetter save time by cutting through your normal processes and get them what they need quickly. And, if you can tell them you are giving them a special perk, all the better. Since your competition almost certainly won’t make any attempt to recognize and adapt to the GoGetter, you can own this segment of the market.

Why CNN is so befuddled 

Of course everyone has more than one dominant Temperament Factor.  This explains why some of the CNN commentators like Gloria Borger are so befuddled by the devotion Trump’s kids and close associates have for him. They absurdly suggest that this is because his kids are his business partners and they are just protecting their business interests. The real reason is that Donald Trump is almost certainly also strong in a temperament factor that makes people intensely caring about and loyal to their families and those closest to them. If you listen, you often hear his kids talk about the Donald Trump they know – which is very different from what others experience or what you would experience the first time you tried to sell something to him. Ultimately, if you use a knowledge of temperament effectively over a long enough period of time, you can cross the chasm from competitor to beat to trusted friend to protect – then everything changes.




CONCLUSION:

Some of the people I like being around the most and the least are high GoGetters. The group I like being around also have a strong moral compass whereas the second group doesn’t. Both have wildly entertaining stories. The difference between the stories is that with the first group they are mostly true and with the second they are mostly BS.  To learn more about the 7MTF System , how to distinguish between these two types of GoGetters and more about how to sell to or manage a GoGetter Click Here and request information about our courses on the GoGetter and other Temperament Factors for managers and salespeople.



 

Topics: 7MTF