The Designer's Coach

In last month’s newsletter, I wrote about the Four Temperaments, a philosophy of creating a personality profile. To review this fascinating approach, here is a brief description of each one:
1)The Sanguine is known as an extrovert, always optimistic and very talkative. They have an appealing personality and are considered to be the life of the party.
2)The Melancholic is introverted and a deep thinker. She can be serious and purposeful as well as neat and tidy.
3)The Choleric is an extrovert and considered a born leader. They are dynamic, active and goal oriented.
4)The Phlegmatic is calm, cool and collected. As a patient and well balanced personality, they are easy to get along with and are pleasant and enjoyable company.
Allow yourself to objectively look at these Four Temperaments and understand that there are universal truths that you can employ as part of your toolkit. With this knowledge you may find some interesting applications that could assist your performance with your clients.
Did you know that even color preference can be influenced by personality type? Reds seem to appeal to the Choleric. The Sanguine is inspired with yellows, while the Phlegmatic likes greens and the Melancholic is attracted to blues. Have you ever been surprised by a clients’ color preference? Maybe she loves purple, but you know the color is wrong for the space. She could be a Melancholic and finds an unconscious attachment to the color. It has nothing to do with her design sense. You can honor her feelings and explain that purple will not help reach the desired look of the room. Remember, the Melancholic is goal orientated, so she will appreciate your reasoning.
If you work involves children under 10, there are some interesting applications. For example: A Choleric active child will react to a red room in a calming way. While we know that red is stimulating, it has the opposite effect on the child. The youngster will interpret their red room as it’s opposite on the color wheel. They will unconsciously see green, as soothing color. Why? Have you ever stared at a red piece of paper for a minute, and then looked at a white wall immediately thereafter? You will see the image of green, red’s opposite. This is what happens to a child up until the age of ten, as they get older they will react as we do, to see colors as they are. A Phlegmatic, dreamy child can be stimulated with the typical calm green color as they will unconsciously see red and become more engaging.
As a “master” of the Four Temperaments, you can respond accordingly to the various types of clients you encounter. Upon visiting your client’s homes, you need to recognize behavior and try to reflect their personality. Your challenge is to be a quick study and make adjustments in your sales and negotiation approach to appeal to the client’s unique personality. A “fast talker” doesn’t want to be tripped up by a slow, methodical approach.
You can also be confronted with a husband and wife team with vastly different personalities that require quick self analysis and reaction in order to please both decision makers.
As you already know, we are also trying to understand why people agree or not, to buy from us. This is a question that we are always struggling with. If we can figure this out, think of the possibilities!
I do believe that learning the Four Temperaments can be an asset in understanding how people think, decide and react. It is up to you to be the “chameleon” and learn that empathy is our best skill when thoroughly developed.
It is the skillful designer that can adjust their own personality type to meet the needs of their clients. As we search for a way to tap into their brain’s right- side emotional reasoning, we will establish trust and a strong bond. This is what great salespeople are made of. Do you have what it takes to grow your business by really understanding the personality type of your clients to determine what will motivate their decision making?