When you talk to Chuck Reaves on the phone, beware. He'll have you pegged in less time than it takes to exchange pleasantries. This sales superstar -- formerly the top producer for AT&T in a class of more than 1,100 salespeople -- can persuade even the most recalcitrant prospect to sit down over coffee and hash out a deal. "We were looking at a medical products company that we'd never worked with before," recalls Reaves, who left AT&T to start Twenty-One Associates, an Atlanta-based sales training and consulting company. "They didn't want to do business with me, but when I talked to their sales manager on the phone, he was a High I" -- an expressive social/influencer personality type in Reaves' style analysis -- "and I thought, 'This guy's like me!' " He found some common interests, made a personal connection and won an invitation to breakfast with the regional sales director who would make the decision about using his services. "When we sat down together, I realized this guy and I had nothing in common. The director was a High C" -- an analytical thinker/calculator type, Reaves explains. "So I talked one way to the person on my right and another way to the person across the table from me, and we got the business."

That's personality typing in action. Experts agree: Anyone who sells to or communicates with others should try it. The fact is, you probably already do some form of typing -- although you may not call it that. We asked a range of experts in sales and psychology to explain the basic technique, how you can use it and, best of all, why it will dramatically improve your contact-to-sale ratio.

Q. What is personality typing?
A. Psychological or personality typing (different proponents use various names for it) is a framework for identifying and working with the personality differences we all experience every day. It's a way to understand what makes you tick, while examining the behaviors that drive your sales prospects, co-workers and clients -- even that caller on the other end of the phone.

Once you've determined a person's personality type, you can shift your own approach, style and message to match it. So-called adaptive selling or style flexing allows you to modify your message in such a way that your audience will understand and feel comfortable with it -- so they'll favorably respond to your pitch.

"It's an indisputable fact that people like to do business with people they like," says Tony Alessandra, a national speaker, author of sales books such as Collaborative Selling and The Platinum Rule and President of Alessandra & Associates in La Jolla, CA. "Relating to people according to their personality behavior means you treat them the way they want to be treated, which increases your chances of success."

Q. Who defines the types?
A. In the 1920s, psychologist Carl Jung paved the way with his work Psychological Types, in which he identified three personality ranges: extroversion-introversion, sensing-intuition and thinking-feeling. Jung theorized that everyone has a preference for one end of each spectrum, according to Morgan Miles, Associate Professor of Marketing at Georgia Southern University (GSU). The well-known Myers-Briggs Type Indicator adds a fourth dimension, judging-perceiving, to Jung's original ideas.

Using this framework, you can analyze based on where people prefer to focus their attention and how they take in information, make decisions and orient themselves to the external world.

Similarly, several two-dimension style flexing models grew from Jung's ideas, most of them based on a person's relationship with others. Dominance, directness or assertiveness is the first dimension and sociability, openness or responsiveness is the second. "All of these frameworks are based on the same things Jung came up with originally," says Miles.

In lay terms, this means that it's possible to predict how someone prefers to think and deal with the world based on his or her personality type. It gives you a way to categorize clients, for example, with up to 16 different types.

Q. Is typing just labeling people?
A. Absolutely not, stress the experts. "Type, if used correctly, is not a labeling process," says Susan Brock, a licensed psychologist and Principal of the Minneapolis-based Brock & Associates management consulting firm, which makes extensive use of the Myers-Briggs format. "If you take the four dimensions, you get 16 types. I like to think of it as a 16-room house, and one of them is your favorite room. That doesn't mean you stay there all the time; you visit all of the rooms at one time or another."

Type is a model for exhibited behavioral styles at a given time. People have a preference for one or more comfortable behaviors, but they can easily change that preference depending on the person or situation they face.

Q. Why should I use it?
A. Type is dynamic and changing, not static and constant. If you fail to evaluate prospects' behavior each time you contact them, you risk forcing your pitch when they might be far more receptive to a soft sell, for example.

All that may sound like far too much "New Agey, metaphysical cockamamie," as one sales veteran put it, but experts like Reaves disagree. "Any tool that salespeople can be trained to use that modifies their approach to customers is pure gold," he says. "Typing allows you to modify your inner person to match your client, just like you already modify your outer person in the way you dress or act with a customer."

Q. What are the different types?
A. Depending on the framework you're using, a person's behavior falls into one or more of four to 16 types. In a simplified, two-dimension model based on assertiveness and responsiveness, a person exhibiting certain behaviors can be typed as:

• A direct and self-contained Director or Driver -- a goal-oriented go-getter who needs control. In pitching people exhibiting this type, you focus on savings, efficiency and profits.
• An open and direct Socializer or Influencer -- a friendly, enthusiastic person who is relationship, not task, oriented. Sell to the Socializer by talking ideas, dreams and goals.
• An indirect and self-contained Thinker or Calculator -- a systematic or analytical customer who enjoys problem-solving. He or she wants organization, structure, price comparisons and facts and figures.
• An open and indirect Relator or Stable type -- a supportive, warm and nurturing individual who makes buying decisions based on trust, relationships and what others have to say. Sell to the Relator by emphasizing harmony, security and steadiness.

By contrast, the Myers-Briggs format expands this structure with further shadings of how people take in information, formulate their conclusions, focus attention and orient themselves to the world.

Q. Is one type better than another?
A. "Each preference doesn't have a better or a worse," stresses Brock. "Most people exhibit a combination of types at any given time. So the key becomes knowing, for example, that the Sensing-Feeling customer focuses on specifics and on those specifics' impact on people."

When discussing your show with this type, then, you might say, "Your corner booth would be at the intersection of these aisles, which is a great location with lots of traffic but one with easy access to the food service areas for your staff."

Q. Don't most salespeople already do this?
A. Most effective sales professionals and others who rely heavily on interpersonal communication use some degree of style flexing in their approach to others. Personality typing, however, provides a strong framework to classify behavior patterns and to practice thinking from your customer's point of view.

"The more you use it and the more you practice, the better you become at it," says Twenty-One Associates' Reaves. "Once they understand it and begin focusing, most people can do better at it within a matter of weeks. If you don't type people, you have a one-in-four chance of selling to someone who's just like you. If you can use these skills, you increase your number of positive contacts tremendously."

Q. How do you start typing others?
A. Discover your personal type preferences first. Find out how you think and react by having a professionally administered evaluation -- numerous companies and consultants offer Myers-Briggs and other tests. (For a glimpse of what you might learn, try the quick self test at the end of this article).

Next, begin gathering verbal and nonverbal information about your potential customer or communications partner. "See if their picture is in an annual report; if it's the company president, see how he writes his letter there. Walk through the plant," says Reaves. "Learn to read people's offices for clues, personal photos, sales awards or things that signal their interests."

Such clues must be evaluated for how they fit into the total type picture, however. "One of the problems in the real world," says GSU's Miles, "is that things like shared office space mean people don't have as much control over their environments as they once did, and the increasing use of technology allows people to project almost any image of themselves that they want."

Even if, like most booth sales people, you make 90 percent of your contacts by telephone, you can learn enough to help you decide how to talk to people. "Listen for the indicators people give you over the telephone," says Reaves, "If they ask, 'How are you today?' 'How's business?,' or 'How about that game Sunday?,' you're already getting some clues about the type of person you're dealing with. But if they start right off by asking why you're calling, then you have someone who wants to get down to business."

Q. When do you use personality type?
A. Use it constantly. Reaves, who often travels the country for training engagements, makes a habit of determining his seat-mate's type before starting a conversation on airplanes. "It's a good way to see how much you can tell about someone before they even say anything," he explains. "Then you confirm your observations as you get to know each other."

Typing comes into play each time you contact a client or prospect. Although you typed them as a Socializer in your last meeting, tight deadlines or demands from the company owner could have them exhibiting Director tendencies this time around. Respond from their point of view, delivering information in the way they want to hear it, and you'll have a greater chance of success.

Q. Can you type when selling to a group?
A. Although you can't determine each personality type in the room, you can type one or two key players. If you're absolutely certain there's only one decision-maker present, for example, focus on his or her needs. A much safer approach in these days of team management and group decision making, however, is to work with the party as a whole.

"Start off giving your basic benefits statement in four ways: with facts, a service spin, vision and logical options," suggests Brock. "You deliberately craft the statement in four ways that say the same thing. That gives you a platform to begin evaluating the group. Once you've got some clues, you can start giving more information in one direction to half the group then, at some point, look at the rest and start softening it down so your message is accessible to them as well."

Q. What are the potential drawbacks?
A. Determining personality type will not help otherwise sloppy sales. You must know your show inside and out in order to gain benefits from personality typing. "It's absolutely not a shortcut," Brock says.

You'll also need to possess polished sales skills and knowledge of the selling process. Being able to ask questions and really listen to clients is key, as is knowing when and how to initiate the relationship, discover client needs, suggest a course of action and close the sale.

"Be careful about judging someone's style too quickly and making irrevocable decisions based on your perceived compatibility," warns Alessandra. "Don't use the concept of the personal styles to excuse your own behavior. Don't say, for example, 'I'm a Director, so I'm naturally impatient and domineering.' "

Q. Once you know how to type, then what?
A. In two words: Use it. Personality typing has applications in sales, in your internal operation, on and off the job and just about anywhere you need to communicate with others. It's difficult to imagine ever completely mastering typing because it's a process: Both sides bring their own subtle personality influences to each interaction.Practice typing, share it with others, refine it with your own clients and their unique circumstances. You can even apply it throughout your organization in non-sales situations. Typing works in interactions ranging from project management to marketing, and customer service to contract negotiations.

"I've been doing this for 15 years, and I'm still learning new things about it," says Reaves. "The single biggest reason people don't try it is that they're used to working one way, and they don't want to change. But if you apply personality type to your business, you can't lose."

Personality or psychological typing provides a useful framework for selling to and communicating with others. But it's also invaluable in assessing your own behavior, reactions and ways of looking at the world. Take this "personal assets inventory" to see where your natural tendencies lie. Then, for a more detailed -- and interactive -- self test, go to Alessandra & Associates' World Wide Web site, http://www.platinumrule.com.

Personal Assets Inventory
1. In the space provided below, identify the behaviors that have typically been the most-to-least characteristic of you. Working from left to right across each row, assign "4" points to the most characteristic behavior, "3" to the next most characteristic, then "2" and, finally, "1" to your least characteristic behavior.

Example: 3 Directing 4 Influencing 1 Steady 2 Cautious

2. Add the numbers in each of the four columns and place the totals in the blanks at the bottom of each column.

3. Check your accuracy by adding all the column totals. The sum should equal 50.

4. Determine your "core" style by finding your highest column total.

If your highest column total is under Column 1, you are a dominant Director. You're likely to be firm in relationships, goal oriented and concerned with the bottom line. Others may see you as tough-minded, stubborn and impatient. You tend to like to take control of situations, demanding an exceptionally fast pace of both yourself and others, and you dread delays.

If your highest column total is under Column 2, you are an interacting Socializer. You're likely to be lively, animated and intuitive. Others may see you as impetuous and manipulative. You tend to work well when involved with others, while exhibiting a high degree of creativity and the ability to think on your feet.

If your highest column total is under Column 3, you are a steady Relator. You're likely to be warm, supportive and reliable, although others may view you as soft-hearted, acquiescent and compliant. You tend to value close, friendly relationships and are highly averse to interpersonal conflict.

If your highest column total is under Column 4, you are a cautious Thinker. You're likely to be persistent, systematic and a problem solver, although others may view you as critical, picky and aloof. You tend to ask many questions in an effort to gain specific detail. You like to see things in writing.

Sidebar: How to adapt your sales approach to your exhibitor's personality type