by Bill Gallagher, Ph.D.

The best way to sell depends on WHO you are selling to. Everyone has a different personality and different moods, so why do so many salespeople keep looking for the ONE best way to sell and close? For successful selling to different kinds of people you’ll need a Mind Map to find the right approach.

To help you better understand how you and others think, how they react to you, and how we all make decisions, we’ve done some homework for you. We’ve outlined seven clearly identifiable personality types, or phases. We call this summary The Mind Map. It can be one of the most advanced tools in dealing with others. This knowledge will give you a real edge in dealing with adults.

Most of us adopt one of these phases as our primary personality type, but we may shift from one phase to another depending on the relationship, the circumstances, or stress. Whenever people interact, they invariably do so from one of these phases.

By discerning one phase from another at will, you have the capacity to deal more effectively with anyone, under nearly any circumstance. You will begin to see where personality conflicts are created, and improve the atmosphere of these relationships. When a relationship isn’t going too well, you can quickly move to a different phase, gaining the psychological high ground that produces better results. You’ll exhibit confidence and inspire it in others. As a result, you’ll have relationships based on mutual trust, shared concerns, and open communication.

1. The Amoral Phase
We all begin life as infants, and because the behavior of infants is neither moral nor immoral, we call this the Amoral phase. It’s dominant needs are physical, and when subjected to stress, the Amoral will shut down or escape by withdrawing into day dreams, TV, or, even, alcohol or other drugs.

We call this the “Leave Me Alone” phase. If you encounter someone who is temporarily in this phase, gracefully end the conversation and attempt another meeting later. It’s impossible to have any kind of discussion with someone who is shut down.

2. The Ego Phase
Infants move into this phase when they discover that they are individuals, unique and separate from their parents. In it, children perceive themselves as the center of the universe, and all other people are placed in their life to serve them. In normal maturation, this phase develops at around two years of age.

All of us know people who are stuck in this phase. In fact, 30 to 40 per-cent of the adult population operates primarily out of Ego. They’re pre-occupied with themselves, their things, their ideas, their accomplishments. This phase is known as the Do it my way now” phase.

Your best approach with Ego types is to acknowledge their uniqueness, their number-oneness. You also need to be assertive and demonstrate your leadership. Let Egos know that you’re “Number One.”

They want to know if you’re good enough. Let them know that you’re good, maybe, the best and that you only represent the best.

3. The Pleaser Phase
At some point early in life, around age seven, the mind learns that not only is it a separate ego, but that there are other egos in the world as well. Survival appears to depend on pleasing others. The dominant need at this phase is psychological. The common characteristic of this phase is the desire to please others.

Your best approach with Pleasers is to be friendly, and be somewhat assertive, since Pleasers tend to put off making decisions.

4. The Authority Phase
The Authority Phase is characterized by is the need for rules. In teen years we learn that not only are we individual egos, and that there are other egos, but that there are whole systems or groups of egos we belong to. It’s often “us versus them.” The maturing mind now seeks the right way to do everything.

Authority phase people are not satisfied for very long because they’ve relinquished responsibility for their actions and relationships, turning them over to the experts. Because of this, the Authority mind often invents strategies that endlessly move them in and out of three other phases just mentioned.

Your best approach with Authority people is to avoid friendly gestures and stick to the facts. Appeal to systems, logic, and quoted sources.

5. The Principle Phase
Later in life, usually after having been involved in a stable relationship, we may start to recognize that there are certain principles that make life work, something more basic than rules. Once a mind can understand systems of rules and laws at the Authority phase, it can begin to discern the more fundamental principles by which life functions.

The general characteristics of the Principle phase can be summed up in three words: fair, care, and share. This phase begins with the development of an acceptance of how people are, exactly as they are, and exactly as they are not. Differences are celebrated rather than condemned. Your ability to maintain the Principle phase depends on your ability to be fair, to communicate your caring, and to do a little more than your share. The move to the Principle phase requires a major shift in perspective, away from the step-by-step, logical mind to the creative mind. The jump to the Principle phase is a move from the objective to the subjective, from the rational to the intuitive, from the Left Brain to the Right Brain. It is a barrier most minds never permanently cross.

Instead of a rigid, closed box, the Principle phase is best thought of as a cloud with vague boundaries. The transition between the individual phases of the Right Brain are not distinct, but gradual.

6. The Responsible Phase
At some point, usually later in life, we finally recognize the inescapable truth of cause and effect: that everything that we’ve ever done, everything that we know, everything that we have, is the direct consequence of the choices we’ve made during our lifetime. The mind that is able to apply principles on a responsible basis enters the Responsible phase. At this phase we accept accountability for our actions and outcomes. What we achieve are no longer attributed to conditions of birth, bad luck, or our parent’s strengths or weakness.

7. The Universal Phase
The next phase is that of those who have mastered life, and represents the Universal Mind. Nearly everyone has experienced this phase at least once. This is you at your highest potential, fully integrating both your logical and creative mind, integrating yourself with others, and integrating the mental, physical and spiritual realms of experiences.

The general characteristics of the Universal phase are freedom, empowerment and ecstasy. This person maximizes freedom for everyone by living and teaching correct principles, then allowing others to govern their own lives and handle their own responsibilities.

Mature people constantly strive to operate out of the highest possible phases of maturation. By basing all of their relationships on first principles, they demonstrate leadership. This instills confidence in the mind of your prospects. They will like you, trust you and want to do business with you, because of who you are. Not your affiliation or your image, but your true identity shows through, and people will stand in line to buy from you.