What bike shop personality type — or, better put, types — are you?
I was a little embarrassed when I learned mine.
After chatting with former bike shop employee and local business consult Jody Bagno-Dill, I realized that I’m a Performer with — mercifully — a good dose of Producer traits.
Let me explain. I’ve long been the guy who walks into a bike shop, hopes the employees not only laugh at my jokes but appreciate my bike goals. Serious bike goals.
Bagno-Dill, who also identifies as a Performer/Producer, says four personality types, which also include the Arranger and Harmonizer, round out the schema. We’re often a solid mix of two types, yet we’re a little bit of all four, as well.
In 2007, Bagno-Dill co-founded Jazz Business Consulting with her husband and business partner. She likens a sales team to a practiced yet improvise-ready ensemble. Customers who walk in the door with varying needs and interests are the bit players, sitting in for one-off sessions.
Bagno-Dill developed her four customer personality types from the dynamics laid out by self-help author Florence Littauer. Many of her books articulate a nuanced personality system. These books are insightful, Bagno-Dill said, but very complex.
In speaking with the Source, Bagno-Dill said she wanted to provide an easy-to-learn system for businesses and sales folks to quickly and effectively create tailormade interactions. (She also encourages folks to take Jazz’s free online Vibe Assessment, a tool that helps organizations highlight team strengths and weaknesses.)
“You can pick up a couple easy clues from any given customer and immediately know how to connect with them, build trust and reduce misunderstandings,” Bagno-Dill said.
Not for nothing, Pine Mountain Sports, which has won Best Bike Shop in the Source’s Best of Central Oregon readers’ poll for three consecutive years, puts Bagno-Dill’s techniques to work with every customer interaction they have, owner Rafe Lehner told the Source.
Teeing up any customer type with meaningful service begins with a straightforward question: What are your goals?
Below, I’ve condensed Bagno-Dill’s words and insights into four helpful personality descriptions.
The Performer
The easiest to spot is the performer — they demand attention. The door opens and woosh! I’m here and I brought the party with me. They’re loud. They’re demonstrative with their hands. They hug. They ignore personal space boundaries. They talk loudly. They tell stories. Bagno-Dill concedes half of her personality falls into this category. But that’s what makes us fun and lovable. We need performers in the world because we see the best in everything. One thing that’s important to mention is emotional maturity — that’s the difference maker. Bagno-Dill says an immature performer gossips. They’re overly dramatic and they can’t be counted on. Flaky.
Performers are fun to sell to because they’re all “yes” so long as you make the experience fun. Don’t give them all the details on how the bike is made, its weight, the materials or the history of the company. They don’t care about any of that. They care about riding with their friends, pulling a trailer that has a beer cooler. They love the fun aspect of bikes, so focus on that. They want to be popular, they want to do the “right thing,” but they also want to have positive influence over people. They love getting an “attaboy.”
The Producer
The bottom line is tantamount for the producer, who tends to talk in shorter sentences. They’ll ask how much the bike costs and they just need enough information to make the decision. The producer is all about function. Will it do the job? Someone who wants to lose weight is a producer. In that case, recommend toe cages so their feet won’t slip and they’ll burn more calories. Racers fit into this category, too. They’re very competitive, they have races goals — the bottom line. They’re easy to sell to if you gain their trust.
The Arranger
The two previous types, producer and arranger, are two high-energy extroverted types. They have an intensity. The arranger is the first of two introverted types; they’re soft-spoken. They want all the insights and intricacies. They do want to know how the bike is made and how that benefits them. They will ask tons of questions because they strive toward the most-perfect decision. They keep spreadsheets because that’s what arrangers do before big purchases. They’re also a great referral because they can tell friends all the reasons why they should buy from any particular shop. They don’t wear flashy clothes but they’re always well-coiffed. They’re detail-oriented people. They work in finance, engineering or the medical industry. It’s a longer sale with an arranger, but it’s a solid sale because they’ll spend more money on quality.
The Harmonizer
These folks are hard to spot because they’re the chameleons in the group. Except, they tend to look more comfortable in their clothes, even dressed up. They’ll let out a couple buttons on their button-down shirt. Roll up the sleeves. Hair’s a little messy. They look for comfort. You’re going to sell based on that word. Women — we like softer seats. We like being able to hook a bag on a rack and put stuff in it. Those comforts are important. They can also be non-committal. They’ll want to sleep on it. When selling to couples, realize that couples tend to be opposites. So don’t ignore the quiet one because the quiet one usually has the most weight in the decision-making.
Bagno-Dill consults real estate agents all the time. The harmonizer, she explains, is the person an agent has taken to see 30 houses. They may have no intention of buying a house; they just like being with you, the agent. And the agents laugh because they’ve all had one. Harmonizers can be irritating — at work, in relationships and as customers. Yet, the harmonizer can be your best friend, and producers tend to marry harmonizers, Bagno-Dill says. Their strengths and weaknesses cover for each other. Harmonizers are the kindest of the four personality types.
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