LAB Profile Questions for Sales
LAB Profile Pattern Summaries
Influencing Language Short Cut
Hints for Dealing with Macho Types
LAB Profile Questions for HR and Managers
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LAB Profile Questions for Sales
What do you want? (Criteria)
What is important to you about…? (Criteria)
Why is that (Criteria) important? (Toward and Away From)
How would you know that you had done a good job at …? (Internal and External)
Why did you choose your last…? (Options and Procedures)
What is the relationship between this one and the last one you bought? (Sameness, Sameness with Exception and Difference)
How would know if someone else bought a great ….? (See, Hear, Read, Do)
How many times would you have to (insert answer from above) to be convinced they bought a great…..? (Number of examples, Automatic, Consistent, Period of Time)
Check out Shelle’s How to Increase Sales in Tough Times MP3 audio program.
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Figure out what other people’s patterns are from their behavior.
LAB PROFILE SUMMARY
Motivation Traits
How a person triggers and maintains their interest level and, conversely, what will demotivate them. Each pattern is described below in its extreme form.
LEVEL:
Does a person take the initiative or wait for others?
Proactive: Acts with little or no consideration. Motivated by doing.
Reactive: Motivated to wait, analyse, consider and react.
CRITERIA:
These words are a person's labels for goodness, rightness and appropriateness in a given context. They incite a positive physical and emotional reaction.
DIRECTION:
Is a person's motivational energy centred on goals or problems to be dealt with or avoided?
Toward: These people are motivated to achieve or attain goals. They have trouble recognizing problems. They are good at managing priorities.
Away From: They focus on what may be and is going wrong. They are motivated to solve problems and have trouble keeping focused on goals.
SOURCE:
Does a person stay motivated by judgements from external sources or by using their own internal standards?
Internal: They decide based on their own internal standards.
External: They need outside feedback to know how well they are doing.
REASON:
Does a person continually look for alternatives or prefer to follow established procedures?
Options: Prefers many choices, possibilities and alternatives. May have difficulty committing.
Procedures: They prefer to follow a step by step process. They are motivated to complete what they start.
DECISION FACTORS:
How does a person react to change and what frequency of change do they need?
Sameness: They want their world to stay the same. They will provoke change every 15 to 25 years.
Sameness with Exception: They prefer situations to evolve slowly over time. They want major change every 5 to 7 years.
Difference: They want change to be constant and drastic. Major change every 1 to 2 years.
Difference and Sameness with Exception: They like evolution and revolution. Major change averages every 3 years.
Working Traits
How a person processes information, the type of tasks, the environment they need to be most productive and how they go about making decisions.
SCOPE:
How large a picture is the person able to work with?
Specific: Details and sequences. They cannot see the overview.
General: Overview, big picture. Can handle details for short periods.
ATTENTION DIRECTION:
Does the person pay attention to the non-verbal behavior of others or attend to their own internal experience?
Self: Attends to own experience. Doesn't notice others' behavior or voice tone.
Other: Has automatic reflex responses to non-verbal behavior.
STRESS RESPONSE:
How does a person react to the normal stresses of the work environment?
Feelings: Emotional responses to normal levels of stress. Stays in feelings. Not suited for high-stress work.
Choice: Can move in and out of feelings voluntarily. Good at empathy.
Thinking: Do not go into feelings at normal levels of stress. Poor at establishing rapport or showing empathy.
STYLE:
What kind of human environment allows a person to work best?
Independent: Alone with sole responsibility.
Proximity: In control of own territory with others around.
Co-operative: Together with others in a team, sharing responsibility.
ORGANIZATION:
Does a person concentrate more on thoughts and feelings or on tasks, ideas, systems or tools?
Person: Centred on feelings and thoughts. They become the "task".
Thing: Centred on tasks, systems, ideas, tools. Getting the job done is the most important thing.
RULE STRUCTURE:
Does a person have rules for themselves and others?
My/My: My rules for me. My rules for you. Able to tell others what they expect.
My/.: My rules for me. I don't care about you.
No/My: Don't know rules for me. My rules for you. Typical middle management pattern.
My/Your: My rules for me. Your rules for you. Hesitant to tell others what to do.
CONVINCER CHANNEL:
What type of information does a person need to start the process of getting convinced about something?
See: See evidence.
Hear: Oral presentation or hear something.
Read : Read a report.
Do: Do something.
CONVINCER MODE:
What has to happen to the information or evidence previously gathered to make a person become “convinced” of something?
Number of examples: They need to have the data a certain number of times to be convinced.
Automatic: They take a small amount of information and get convinced immediately based on what they extrapolate. They hardly ever change their minds.
Consistent : They are never completely convinced. Every day is a new day and they need to get re-convinced.
Period of time: They need to gather information for a certain duration before their conviction is triggered.
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Influencing Language Short Cut
Phrases to use for influencing and persuading
MOTIVATION TRAITS
LEVEL
Proactive - do it, go for it, jump in, now, get it done, don't wait
Reactive - understand, think about, wait, analyze, consider, wait, might, could, would
DIRECTION
Toward - attain, obtain, have, get, include, achieve
Away From - avoid, steer clear of, get rid of, exclude, solve, fix
SOURCE
External - so and so thinks, the feed back you'll get, the approval you'll get, others will notice, give references
Internal - only you can decide, you know it’s up to you, what do you think
REASON
Options - break the rules just for them, opportunity, choice, expanding, options, alternatives, possibilities
Procedures - speak in procedures: first ... then ... after which; the right way, tried and true, tell them about the procedures they will get to use
DECISION FACTORS
Sameness - same as, in common, as you always do, like before, unchanged, as you know
Sameness with Exception - more, better, less, same except, evolving, progress, gradual improvement
Difference - new, totally different, completely changed, switch, shift, unique, revolutionary, brand new
Sameness with Exception and Difference - (both Sameness with Exception and Difference vocabulary will work)
WORKING TRAITS
SCOPE
Specific exactly, precisely, specifically (and give lots of details in sequence)
General the big picture, essentially, the important thing is, in general, concepts
ATTENTION DIRECTION
Self keep communication focused on the content
Other influenced by the depth of rapport
STYLE
Independent do it alone, by yourself, you alone, without interruption, total control
Proximity you'll be in charge, around others, you'll direct, your responsibility is X, their's is Y
Co-operative us, we, together, all of us, team, group, share responsibility, do it together, let's
ORGANIZATION
Person use personal pronouns and people's names, feelings, thoughts, feel good, people
Thing impersonal pronouns - things, systems, process, task, job, goal, organization
STRESS RESPONSE
Feelings empathy, happy, intense, exciting, mind boggling, wonderful
Choice empathy, appropriate, makes good sense and feels right
Thinking clear thinking, logical, rational, cold reality, hard facts, statistics
RULE STRUCTURE
My/My You know what you want and what they need, when it’s clear to you, what goes for the goose goes for the gander
My/. Doing what you want, when you want, whatever the price
No/My Even if you aren’t sure, when you don’t know what to do next
My/Your Different strokes for different folks, everyone is not the same
CONVINCER CHANNEL
See must see data to get convinced
Hear must hear data to get convinced
Read must read data to get convinced
Do must do it to get convinced
CONVINCER MODE
Number of Examples use numbers
Automatic assume, benefit of the doubt
Consistent try it, each time you use it, daily, every time, consistent
Period of Time match period of time
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Hints for Dealing with Macho Types
Pry open some mental space in even the most closed of minds.
Write a draft of the document or prepare what you are going to say. Then look it over and ask yourself the following questions about what you have prepared:
Have I anywhere stated or implied that?
If any of the above are stated or implied, it does not pass the Macho Test! You may wish to rephrase as follows:
As you probably know….(then state the thing you suspect they do not know)
Next time you sense if you present a 'new' idea, the person will deny it's actually new, try suggesting that it may be something they have already considered. You probably already know exactly who the Machos are in your life. I find that once I rephrase to pass the Macho Test, the people I'm addressing stop being Macho and become more willing to participate in the free flow of ideas.
Check out the Macho Factor Quiz and find out your Macho Factor.
Check out Presenting Ideas to Skeptical People MP3 audio program
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LAB Profile Questions for HR and Managers
Find out how your employees function at their best.