Specific and Diffuse Customers: How to Relate for Win – Win Relationships

In my last ELAvate Sales Blog post, I described the continuum of Specific and Diffuse customer interactions and how customers trust and relate to sales people. You might call Specific conversations “Speed Dating” and Diffuse ones “Learning to Tango Together.” Again, I want to thank Dr. Fons Trompenaars for his excellent global research on this subject.

In case you missed the last ELAvate blog post on this customer continuum, please click on this link.

The first step in determining how you relate to customers is to figure out are you as a salesperson, more specific or diffuse in how you communicate, trust and build relationships with your customers.

How Specific and Diffuse People Act

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Specific People

• A person with a Specific orientation easily makes close quick contact with others.
• The Specific person knows quite well what kinds of contact he or she wants to establish, what to share with others and what not. 
• Relationships are formed based on the situation and connection. Trust is expected so information can be shared for a win-win deal.
• Specific people share information readily. They have what we call a large “public space.” Networking is easy.
• Specific people interpret success and failures as resulting from his or her well-defined competencies or weakness.
• Specific people sell the product and benefits and then build a deeper relationship if time and the value of the account permits.
• Specific people can triangulate a problem and see their skills as separate from the product. 
• Customer loyalty can be situational and fleeting.

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Diffuse People

• Someone with a diffuse orientation is less explicit in what he or she expects from relationships. 
• Sharing some things expands to sharing many others as well; hence, he or she prefers to be choosy about sharing at all.
• Being choosy on what is shared may lead to a better deal. 
• Trust must be earned before relevant information is shared with others.
• Public space is limited so trust is gained over time as one is checking the other out.
• Though it is harder to build a relationship, once this has been achieved, it is more likely to involve the entire person. Customer and salesperson can become life long friends.
• Develop a trusting relationship, and then share information to create a long lasting solution with a product or service.
• Diffuse-oriented people are less likely to become socially flexible with networking based on personal referrals.
• A person with a diffuse orientation interprets success and failures as resulting from him or her being the person he or she is. The product (or problem) and me are one.

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This specific-diffuse dimension can best be explained by using the metaphor of two circles, one inside the other. The inner circle represents a person’s private sphere, the outer circle his or her public life. Depending on the size of the inner circle, we call the orientation ‘diffuse’ or ‘specific’. People with a large public space share much information readily (US talk shows!) and those with a large private space only share information after time proves trust (the Mafia).

Practical Tips for Selling to Specific and Diffuse Customers

Tips for doing business with

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Specific Oriented Customers(for Diffuse Individuals)

• Study the objectives, principles and goals of the organization with which you are selling to.
• Be quick, to the point and efficient.
• Focus on the issues, problem and solution, not a personal relationship.
• Be professional and willing to share.
• Asking good questions is a sign of trust and professionalism.
• Structure the meeting with time, intervals and agendas.
• Do not use titles or acknowledge skills that are irrelevant to the issue being discussed.
• Do not be offended by confrontations; they are usually not personal.

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Diffuse Orientated Customers(for Specific Individuals)

• Study the history, background and future vision of the diffuse organization with which you expect to do business. Know your history as well!
• Small talk will be appropriate to check each other out.
• Take time and remember there are many roads to Rome.
• Let the meeting flow, occasionally nudging the process.
• Respect a person’s title, age, background, and connections, whatever issue is being discussed.
• Politeness trumps directness. Ask questions that do not embarrass the customer.
• Do not get impatient when people are indirect or circuitous.
• Personal trust and likeability allows for problem discussion and then the sale.

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Reading these Specific Diffuse relation building insights can be visualized as a “spiral of communication.” Specific customers want you to “get to the point” (or problem, feature or benefit) and, if required, flesh out the main point, feature or benefit out with more information. Diffuse customers want to circle around like an “eagle surveying the terrain,” to gain a full picture before focusing on the core problem and possible solution. This difference is best explained by this illustration:

Selling Skill Examples

With both types of customers, your selling skills remain the same, but how you communicate the selling skill makes a big difference. For example, probing or asking questions. A specific customer will allow for direct questions that focus on the problem because the problem is not “him or her.” The specific customer will also want to talk and elaborate. So follow on questions to expand on the customer’s point of view show respect. For the diffuse customer, the keys are to show respect and politeness with your probing for this shows professionalism.

If you cannot build a good trusting relationship with a diffuse customer, negotiation becomes a nightmare. For the diffuse customer considers you ‘fair game’ and will extract all he can early in the sales cycle to gain a good deal even at your expense. This is why many diffuse customers ask you for your price at the beginning of a sales call. That way they get a great price and then continue to squeeze for more and more benefits as they move through the sales call. You can see how important it is to get a trusted referral when dealing with a new diffuse customer.

The specific customer rarely asks for your price at the beginning of a sales call. They see the discussion as assembling a number of building blocks that end up constructing a solution that solves the problem with price being the final cement. You can see in many multinationals how you meet the end user first, and then get sent over to procurement last to negotiate or receive an RFP.

Customer loyalty for the diffuse customer is based on a long-term relationship that is personal, intimate so you can better solve their holistic problems. Cross selling is easier. The specific customer rarely wants a personal relationship as he/she perceives you as a problem solver for specific situations and may go to other suppliers if your organization cannot solve their new specific problem. So keeping the specific customer informed about problems and your new solutions is more important than a personal relationship.

B2B selling across cultures is challenging. Building relationships, sharing information and developing trust for both specific and diffuse customers by adapting your attitude and selling skills will definitely  boost your sales success regardless of the cultures you happen to do business with.

Email me with your questions on selling across cultures and I will be happy to answer them for your global success!  ELAvate also offers a two-day Selling Across Cultures program for global B2B sales people. Contact ELAvate for further information.

Reconciling Specific and Diffuse Customer Relationships