A prospect's personality can greatly affect his/her decision making process especially when it comes to subscribing to a service or buying a product. Thus, the need to be informed on how you can improve your marketing strategy by identifying your target audience's temperament and behavior should be part of your priority list.
Of course, you don't need to get a degree in Psychology to learn about the 4 personality types that are used as a standard in categorizing individuals. Learning to identify what makes your prospects tick can help you create effective strategies to successfully convert them. Without further ado, let's take a closer look on these 4 basic temperaments that can help you understand more the needs of your target audience.
The 4 Basic Types of Personality
Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician was the one who created the 4 fundamental personality types. Unlike a person's character that is acquired through learning, these 4 personality types are believed to be innate. This means that every individual is born with one or a combination of them, and it is not something that they can choose to become.
The Choleric (Competitive Personality)
These are the individuals who often lead and always have a plan. They are quite competitive and passionate about the things that they do. They are egocentric, extroverted, ambitious, and aggressive. Because of these traits, they are quite bossy and assertive. They always want to be in-charged and they need to be always in control of situations.
Choleric individuals are mostly the ones who get leadership roles. They are the managers, politicians, captains, team leaders, and the like. And, in the marketing perspective, these are the customers or clients who always want to be in control in their purchases and want to subscribe only to the best services available.
A few example of world's famous Choleric personalities are Napoleon, Margaret Thatcher, Mark Zuckerberg, and Donald Trump.
The Sanguine (Spontaneous Personality)
The Sanguines are social extroverts. They are the life of the parties because they find social interactions invigorating. They are talkative, energetic, playful, yet very emotional. Because they are very sociable, they often crave for attention. They desire the spotlight and aspire for compliments and praises.
Individuals with spontaneous personality are also imaginative and artistic. Unlike the Cholerics, Sanguines don't care that much about competition. They are more into the fun and excitement. They are the entertainers, singers, dancers, and the like.
A few example of famous Sanguine celebrities are Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Lady Gaga, and Kelly Ripa.
The Phlegmatic (Humanistic Personality)
In a nutshell, Phlegmatics are described to exhibit thoughtfulness, calmness, patience, and tolerance. They are the type that tend to be steadfast and consistent in their habits. They care more about the welfare of other people rather than their own.
Being the peaceful and the humanistic type, Phlegmatics are always careful in thought and speech. A few example of famous Phlegmatic personalities include Keanu Reeves, Tim Duncan, Calvin Coolidge, Princess Diana, Oprah Winfrey, and Ian Crocker.
The Melancholic (Methodical Personality)
Melancholics are described as emotionally sensitive and perfectionistic introverts. They are commonly idealists and tend to get frustrated if things don't play the way they want them to be. Among the four personality types, they are the most introverted. They are most at ease on their own company.
Individuals who are categorized in the Methodical Personality type are often cautious and don't rush things up. They need to analyze, gather facts, and data before they make decisions. They are usually the people who tend towards analytical occupations such as scientists, analysts, programmers, logicians and the like.
An example of two of the most famous Melancholics are Albert Einstein and Bill Gates.
How to Use Each Personality Type to Convince Your Prospects?
By knowing the innate motivations of your prospects, you now have the valid clues on how to convince them to consider your law firm to represent their cases in court.
Convincing the Cholerics
You need to always keep in mind that Cholerics are proud people. They are dominant and very competitive. If you want them to consider your law firm, let them know the advantages your services can bring to their table that they cannot get from others. Try to appeal to their competitiveness by telling them favorable statistics about the cases you've previously won. Stroke their ego by mentioning your high profile clients in the past. Put them in control of their legal battle by allowing them to pick the best associate in your law firm.
You can apply these ideas on your website's landing page, your Facebook fan page wall post, and even in one of your blog posts.
Convincing the Sanguines
Because Sanguines are into fun and excitement, you need to appeal to their fun-loving side to attract their attention. Of course, you need to make it sound professional and not out of the context.
For example, if your law firm is specializing in representing divorce cases, you need to put your prospects in the mood of excitement by telling them what they'll get after the case is settled. Let them picture their lives enjoying the perks of being single again. Tap into their sociable side by reminding them the social life they've missed while being married.
Find a copywriter who can create you a landing page conveying the ideas above.
Convincing the Phlegmatics
Since Phlegmatics are the type who care more about other people than themselves, you need to appeal to that side of them by letting them know how your services have boosted the morale of your previous clients. Tell them how you put the welfare of your clients on top of your own and that your law firm always make it a priority to support them (prospects) even if they don't sign a contract yet.
It would also help to show off any humanitarian activities your law firm got involved or currently being involved with. Appealing to their humanist side doesn't only convince them you're the right law firm, it would also help you establish a more credible reputation and would help wane down the capitalistic stereotype of the legal industry.
Again, convey these ideas on your website's landing page. It's much better to get a copywriter do it to make your lines more compelling.
Convincing the Melancholics
Melancholics are always cautious. They are the type who don't easily jump into anyone's bandwagon. They have their own way of scrutinizing things, thus they are not easy to convince. If you want to convince them that you are the right law firm to represent their case, then you need external validations from credible sources that can vouch your claim. This can include reviews from high authority legal sites from your previous clients or recommendations from your fellow lawyers in the industry.
It is also highly recommended that you bump up your social media profiles as it is already a given that prospects with Methodical personality type would surely do their own research about your law firm before they'll consider hiring one of your associates. If you want to create an impression, you also need to show them numbers or statistics to prove that your law firm can deliver favorable results.
Conclusion
Learning about the 4 basic personality types can now help you understand more the needs of your prospects. Aside from that, you now have the knowledge about the things that make them tick. Cholerics love to be in control. Sanguines are always looking for fun and social interaction. Phlegmatics always put the needs of others above their own. And, Melancholics are cautious and don't easily jump to anyone's bandwagon. These personality types are your basic guide in creating more effective funnels to successfully convert your prospects.
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Qamar Zaman - Dallas Internet Marketing Expert
Picture credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments#/media/File:Alletemp.jpg
