385: The Power of Personality in Sales and Influence- with Ross Keating

[00:00:18] Lori Highby: Hey everybody, Lori Highby here. Welcome to the Social Capital Podcast. Our show notes are found at socialcapitalpodcast. com. To you, the listener, I want you to know that I appreciate you and I'm thrilled to have you here for another episode. If there's ever anything that I can do to support you, please reach out.

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I can't wait to hear from you. Social Capital podcast is sponsored by Keystone Click, a strategic digital marketing agency that believes in order to successfully market to your ideal customer, you have to first understand your customer, learn more about Keystone Click at KeystoneClick. com.

The topic of relationships ties in very closely with marketing. That's why I bring on a variety of guests that focus on networking and or marketing expertise with a variety of backgrounds. Today's guest is Ross Keating. And we actually met through a mutual contact, Lorraine Ball, as we were both co authors in her book, More Than a Few Words. Ross believes all businesses, regardless of their size, can be more successful, including yours.

When you are successful, it not only helps you and your customers, but it also helps your employees, your suppliers, the community around you, and your family. Over the last 15 years or so, his clients have been in industries such as industrial equipment sales, pet grooming, civil construction, fitness, lighting, and motor systems, house construction, mining, animal welfare, tourism, and pest control. Many of Ross's clients have 2x and 3x their revenue and profits, yet become more relaxed and able to stay more focused to work on the business. The result is their business continues to grow. These clients say they have been able to achieve personal and lifestyle goals as a result of working with Ross.

He has managed the development, implementation, and sales of customer relationship management strategies and software internationally. He has held management responsibility for 40, 000 plus customers and 36 million dollars in sales. Ross is a certified code breaker technologies as a BANK, B A N K IOS coach, Ross, welcome to the show.

[00:02:53] Ross Keating: Hi, Lori. And thank you so much for having me on the show. It's great to meet you in person after being in the same book together.

[00:03:00] Lori Highby: That was such a fun experience to go through. And, and Lorraine definitely did a great job you know, compiling all of our amazing stories. So yeah, this is fun.

I appreciate you being on the show.

[00:03:11] Ross Keating: It's, it's great to hear. I've been listening to quite a number of episodes over the months. So it's been great to see how you bring the show together and get the different experts and different points of view. You really give your listeners a really wide perspective of what they can do to help grow themselves and their business.

Because it's not just about business. We're, we're there to grow ourselves.

[00:03:33] Lori Highby: Yeah, I agree with that 100%. And really, we have to take care of ourselves first before we can take care of our business. So I think there is a good balance that needs to be had. But thank you. I appreciate that. Let's dive into some questions here.

So what are the two of your biggest, the biggest problems that you see business owners and executives have?

[00:03:51] Ross Keating: The key that they're frustrated with, the lack of results they're getting in the business. So working there, the teams are working all hours under the sun. They are really trying, they throw all the resources at it, but the business still doesn't meet their expectations.

And they started saying, well, we've got to get, we've just got to get more sales and we just got to generate more leads. That's what, and becomes a real focus on those numbers and sales is not a numbers game. Sales and business. It's a people game now. It's no longer can you just go for selling people don't like to be sold to.

So I say business and sales is not a numbers game. It's a people game.

[00:04:34] Lori Highby: Isn't sales all about numbers and more leads? I mean, I think you, you kind of addressed that a little bit, but I mean, it's people are what's going in the funnel, right? To ultimately get to those numbers.

[00:04:47] Ross Keating: You need to measure. And as we know, you know what you don't need to.

You can't manage, and that's, that's true, but when you, people don't like being sold to, and in a business, your staff don't like being told what to do, most of them are adults, you know, there's a few businesses that work with young teenagers, which need a lot more guidance. But fundamentally, what we're doing is trying to influence people about what they do, it's about getting your point of view across, and In a way that understands those that they understand and relates to the person you're trying to influence your decision because sales is fundamentally an influencing process because you're introducing, get to know me, know like me and trust me and our company and our products and everything like that and we've got a lot of material to show you how good that is and I understand what you do and why you want this product and I've got to show you how it benefits you.

And then you're building a relationship. And when you do that, it makes it so much easier. But a lot of people just go in and they talk about their relationship, or they present in the way that their personality is. And like, you know, for me, I like knowledge and action. I flip between the two, and I'll say, Hey, trust me, don't you worry about that.

We'll just get to the end and away you go. And if you do that, You, your chances are you'll get 25 percent of your sales, but research shows that you turn three quarters of the people off because you're missing the other personality types who are not action orientated. They are looking for structures, systems, processes, they're looking for you to talk about teamwork and personal growth and opportunities that look at you to talk about the research and the data and the technology.

And if you don't cover those things for the people who are interested in those type of things, you're going to miss the sale. And what happens when you miss a sale, Lori? If you miss the sale, what happens?

[00:06:56] Lori Highby: They go somewhere else. Yeah.

[00:06:58] Ross Keating: So you're not, you're not just losing that sale.

You're losing all the, the sales that come from repeat sales from that person, but also all the referrals they're giving, because they're going to refer them to their, the business they're doing business with, not you, and that's a huge opportunity cost that people don't take into account.

[00:07:23] Lori Highby: So is this part of your code breaker technology program?

I took the assessment. Do you want to talk about that for a minute?

[00:07:30] Ross Keating: Sure. Codebreaker Technologies was founded by Sherry Tree back about 2010, 11, I think it was, and is the only methodology that has been scientifically validated by independent studies to actually predict buyer behavior in less than 90 seconds.

And, Hopefully, that's where you found it, roughly around about 90 seconds, not, not, didn't take a huge amount of time and a lot of brain power to go through the test, Lori, would you say that?

[00:07:59] Lori Highby: Yeah. I mean, it was, it was quick. Yes. But I could definitely be a person that tends to overthink things sometimes.

[00:08:04] Ross Keating: Yeah. And we've got that from that side of it. So it's been scientifically valid that you've got that prediction, but also to increase sales and influence by up to 300%. And the red that 300 percent is because you're talking to different personalities. You've got four. Do you mind if we We say what your personality code is?

[00:08:27] Lori Highby: Yeah, it's N K A B.

[00:08:30] Ross Keating: Okay, so that's nurturing, , K for knowledge, A for action, and B for blueprint. Now, it doesn't mean that you're all nurturing. You've got all four personality types in you. One or two of those may be dominant, say the nurturing and the knowledge, the first two. And they may be even interchangeable.

It depends. You can do other assessments to get a bit more burrowed down, unless I get stuck in the detail. So you will respond a lot more to things when we talk about teamwork, personal growth, community, sense of purpose, charity, and things like that. When you say that would be a fair assessment?

[00:09:09] Lori Highby: Yeah, a hundred percent.

I started skimming the information and like all the primary personality types for nurturing resonated with me a hundred percent.

[00:09:19] Ross Keating: Yeah. Yeah. And you like the big picture because I'm picking, I've got that sense that you like the big picture just because that's why you're doing the podcast and you do the podcast for the community because it's, you know, you're trying to help people learn and better themselves and doing that.

So that's what you're responding to. My personal type is knowledge and action and nurturing is third and B is for blueprint. Nurturing. So I respond to those things about data and the big picture. So when I'm talking to you, I've got to make sure that I talk about the teamwork. And, but you and I get on well because we talk and we love things about technology and that big picture and doing research and development, looking into things.

And for you, action, you'll get into action when you're really a bit stressed. You'll, you'll take action, right? I'll, I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll do that. And then you'll go back and relax. And blueprint, you don't want to get too much into the detail. And that's what a lot of people do.

So by doing that, when we know our, methodology and that, that all of a sudden you can talk to people in the language and the phrases and the behaviors that you like, and it's not just in business, it's in your personal life because you're trying to influence people. So let's go back to that whole concept.

Business is about a people game. If you treat people with respect and kindness and understand what they want, they will buy from you. Because you understand them and they're giving them what they want. People, some, one of my clients who's been with me for about seven or eight years, we met online because they put a post up, say, can you tell me what the best marketing automation tool is?

And I went back and said, why do you want a marketing automation tool? What, how's it going to improve your business? What are the goals that you want? But to achieve how will you incorporate in the business. To this day, they still don't have a marketing automation tool because they didn't need one, but what they did want somebody who could look at their business and they engage me and they can still continue to engage me this day.

So that's when you're looking at that. But if you're going through the process, if we understand that personality, then you can look, look to them because Salesforce found that, you know, 60. Only 67 percent of salespeople don't meet their sales targets. So they're carried by 33 percent of the numbers. So nearly 7 out of 10 people don't meet sales targets.

87 percent of them, nearly 90 percent of them, you might say if you like round numbers, felt that they were underprepared when they're going out to meet their prospects and their customers. So why would you be failing yourself? You're not prepared, you don't understand them. And 67 percent of customers, nearly 7 out of 10, were turned off by the presentations.

So, no wonder they were phoning the targets, underprepared, and they didn't have a presentation that resonated. So, if you know your personality codes so quickly, because I've got four cards, I can go to a meeting, and our listeners can't see these cards . And I say, could you do me a favor?

Would you mind just showing me what, sort these into an order that's most important to you, at least like you. And all of a sudden I can talk their language straight away. And I've got a better chance of presenting and I can change my presentation. And the phraseology of my presentation to that, and imagine that when you're doing that, it makes such a big difference.

[00:12:47] Lori Highby: Yeah, that's really interesting. I was going to ask, how do you, how do you pick up on that? But yeah, if it's a quick 90 second activity, like you said, that is something, it's an interesting and unique way to open up the meeting, actually.

[00:12:59] Ross Keating: It is because people like to find out about the personality. It's a really good icebreaker.

And you know, if you hand them the cards, it's very tactile. People still like to touch things and play with them and sort them around. Cards, people like to shuffle them and things like that. So it's, it's a bit of fun, but the whole idea behind it is to get help you give people what they want. And when you're doing that, you can take in stress, tensions and things like that.

Yet in the business, if you understand the personality of the team member, imagine a person who likes structured business and blueprint. If so, they don't like their day to be interrupted. If you turn up on time, you're late to them. They're upset with you. There are budget conscious. They like things to be sorted out.

So if you put somebody that's very like that in a role, say, as a on your receptionist, when everybody comes up to them, you're interrupting their day. They can't finish the thing that they were just trying to do. You're going to drive them absolutely nuts. But if you have somebody who's nurturing and action orientated, well, then you're going to get a better relationship out of them. And if you've, you know, as I said, if you're successful in your business, it's not just about you being, you making sales for your business, it helps your employees, your customers, your suppliers, the community around you and your family. And if you understand the relate, the nurture or the personality of your family, you can then help them communicate better. My wife is a blueprint, right? And so I'd say, Hey, let's go down to the beach. When? Oh, 10 minutes? Why not? And she'd say, But, but, I've got all this thing with Clash, you know, doing things on holidays. I'd like to go and do fun, things fun and, you know, like high risk and things like that.

She doesn't like that. And it would drive us nuts. And people, if you, I don't know what you're like with the people in your life, but If you know that point of view, then it's really hard for them because they don't do do risk. Blueprint, doesn't do risk, and it created clash and things like that. Budget conscious. Don't worry about debate. Trust me baby. Trust me, . So that's where I'm coming from.

[00:15:06] Lori Highby: Yeah, no, that, that's really, really, interesting. And I appreciate, thanks for sharing all of that and actually normally I ask this later in the show, but I know you have an opportunity to let our listeners learn about their blueprint, right?

Do you want to talk about that for a second?

[00:15:21] Ross Keating: Yeah, sure.

[00:15:22] Lori Highby: Or their personality code, not their blueprint. I said that wrong. Sorry.

[00:15:26] Ross Keating: Yeah, that's okay. The personality code. Look, I really love it. You've got the link. You'll be putting that up in the show notes. Yep. Absolutely. Yep. Yeah. Okay. But it's, it's a bit. ly forward slash crack my code Ross. And if you use the link that Lori is going to put up in the show notes, it'll take you to where you can track your own personnel in code. It's, this is free and you'll get a comprehensive. 26 page report that will show, tell you about your personality type. All four, you've all four personalities.

I'll address the key two that that are there and it's 26 page report and it's complimentary. It's valued at 99 and it really does, it tells you the things about we've just discussed now and it'll tell you some of the trip, the things that you really make you respond to and what turns you off. And so if you think of somebody who might be like your personality type, you can do it.

But if you want to see what your colleagues are like, or other people in your business are like, or your family, use the link. You know, each person will get their own report. It's confidential to you. We don't go out and say, Hey, Lori, I'm going to ask you to get your permission. And you'll get that report, they'll get a report, and it's hard to compare what they are.

So please go ahead. I'm licensed and I subscribe to bank and so that's my gift to your people. If anybody wants to have a thing, I always send an email because I get advised that you have completed that and I give you that opportunity to give them a time with me to ask any questions.

[00:16:59] Lori Highby: Yeah, we love that. Thank you. We'll include that information in this journal tonight. I recommend everyone take the 90 seconds it takes to do it. It's definitely worth your time investment. All right, we're going to switch it up to Some fun questions now. Ross, if you could go back to your 20 year old self, what would you tell yourself to do more of, less of, or differently with regards to your professional career?

[00:17:19] Ross Keating: I would say go, go out and have fun, son. You just carry on and you'll get, you'll, you'll be okay. But do two things. Just have put 2, 000 a year away in a fund for the next six years until you're 30. And you really don't have to put any more money into that fund, but make sure it's getting compounding interest because that's going to give you the biggest bang for the buck, and I wish somebody had told me that.

But that's from Jeff Olson, the slight edge of each. If you want to read another book, that's a really great book to read. It's all about little incremental steps. And that's one thing I would tell myself. Anybody, if they're young in their 20s, save 2, 000 a year. And put it away every year. Save bank account and compounding interest.

And you'll hardly have a reason to have to save other money. But it's a good way to do it. The other thing I'd say is do everything you can to improve, keep fit, do, be kind to people and do your best. That's all I ask of you and I'll come and have a chat to you in your 30s and say, now define what your transferable skills are.

And take control of your life and have a plan of what you want to do and take control. Don't let other people dictate what you're going to do, stand up and be your own person and take control. Don't let them do, because while I love employers and I, and I, they, they do everything they have to look after them and the business because they have all the other employees to work for, but only you, and if you show value to your employers, if you're employed, then you will.

Taking control of doing that. So that's my advice there. I'll have a real tech chat to myself in the thirties.

[00:19:06] Lori Highby: I love that. I think that's great actually. Put less emphasis on, you know, what are, what are your skills or what are you going to do? And just focus again, as we kind of opened with like, take care of yourself first.

Right. So I think that's, that's kind of, that's important. So I'm going to give you the opportunity to interview me, Ross. What's something you'd like to ask me?

[00:19:25] Ross Keating: Well, but I didn't really like to ask you is Lori, you deal with a lot of businesses, but what's the, what are the, one or two basic things that you would normally expect them to have in place to be able to work with you that they don't have. And you actually have to go back to the basics first. What, what are those one or two basic things?

[00:19:45] Lori Highby: Oh, that's a, that's a really good question. Oftentimes when we go back to the basics, it's just getting clarity on what it is that their, their core offering is like where, what is getting clarity on their core offering?

So the true value proposition and then who is that audience that we're trying to get in front of? So once I find a lot of times what we're doing is starting there and saying, let's get really clear on who the audience is that we're speaking to, or let's get really clear on what is the value proposition that you're able to bring to the table.

Because really if those two things aren't clearly defined, then it's really hard to move forward and prove success at the end of the day.

[00:20:25] Ross Keating: Yeah. So how do you get them to, to break down their, their, their audience?

[00:20:31] Lori Highby: I mean, that's a lot, that's a lot of what we do, right. there's a number of ways to get some clarity on your audience.

First, you can look at historical data like your sales and whatnot and see, are there any trends in that? Is it a specific demographic, a specific region, a certain size of company Certain, you know, educational level. Is there any data in what you have from a historical sales standpoint that'll help guide you to say, Oh, this is the obvious, you know, audience that we, that we seem to have the most profitable or is the most interested in our, in our offering.

You can also just look at where who you're currently working with that you, you find profitable and you enjoy working with and, or if there's an untapped market that you haven't jumped into getting really clear on who it is that you want to get in front of, but making sure that they actually have a need for the offering that you have, I find that some companies don't do their due diligence there and try to pursue an audience that doesn't necessarily have a, a need, or he's even aware that there's this opportunity to help solve a problem that they're not even aware exists.

[00:21:38] Ross Keating: Yeah. Yeah. I really believe in this target market, you know, is working with people like yourself who actually take that apart down to there, because you'll increase your sales more when you do that.

Yeah. Because you'll. You're targeting people who will be most likely interested in you, so you're saving bang on your marketing buck because you have a cue to communicate, but if you know what the audience is, you can, and if you work out what their personality is, because you can go back to your existing customers, just even work out what the personality of most of your customers are, you can put it in there and the type of people you want, what personalities you want to attract.

So your marketing is going to be far more effective. You'll increase your sales because you're actually going to be able to talk to say four different personality types in the right way. So that's a really, I love that answer, how you, you break it down into those niches and make sure that the market is there.

So thank you.

[00:22:37] Lori Highby: Thank you for asking it. I appreciate that. So Ross, do you have any other final words of wisdom that you'd like to share with our listeners?

[00:22:44] Ross Keating: It is understand the relationships. Take time to make the relationships with, with your customers and the people around you, your employees. That would be fantastic.

They, the other aspect of it would be to use the marketing you have and use the specialists to go and get the clients you want, but take care, be successful at everything you do.

[00:23:08] Lori Highby: Yeah, that's great. I love that. If anyone was interested in getting in touch with you, what's the best way that they can reach you?

[00:23:14] Ross Keating: The best way to find me is on LinkedIn. There is about only, I'm the only Ross Keating in Australia, and that would be really fantastic. We do it the best way.

[00:23:24] Lori Highby: Absolutely. We will include that information in our show notes. Thank you so much for being on the show today, Ross. It was a pleasure to have you.

[00:23:32] Ross Keating: It's been a pleasure to meet you, Lori, and your audience. Please, anybody can contact me at any time if they've got any questions. Happy to have a chat.

[00:23:40] Lori Highby: Fantastic. All right. Love that. This wraps up our episode of Social Capital. A huge thank you to Ross for taking the time to connect with us. If you have a burning question about marketing or relationships, networking, reach out. I'd love to answer it on the show. And as mentioned before, let's connect on LinkedIn, connect with me, connect with Ross. We're definitely looking to hear from you. I hope you've enjoyed the show. I want you to go out there and get noticed.