“Every friendship is different because everyone’s personality is different.” ~Nargis Fakhri

Luckily, we are all different. Different heights, different weights, and most importantly, different personalities. Can you imagine if we were all the same? If we all walked, talked and acted the same? The world would be very boring.

Of course, the hard part of everyone having different personalities is having to deal with them. Especially if you’re in the customer service and hospitality world. I think we all can agree, some people are just…… different. That would be a nice way of describing it.

But if you knew how to recognize and handle different personalities, it would certainly make your life a little easier. And that is a key reason why personality profiles can benefit your team.

DiSC® Personality Assessments break down personalities into four main groups, which in turn can be separated into sub-categories. (Full disclosure: I am a distributor of DiSC products.)

It should be noted there are no wrong or right, better or worse personalities. We all have some traits of all 4 groups, but we usually are dominant in 1 or 2 main groups. Knowing more about ourselves makes it easier to recognize other personality styles so that we can engage, interact and communicate in a better way.

The four main personality styles within DiSC are:

  • Dominance (D): are active, fast-paced, strong-willed, determined, to the point, goal-oriented, serious, controlling, competitive, confrontational, logical, decisive and personally more guarded.
  • Influence (I): are outgoing, charismatic, enthusiastic, people-oriented, expressive, dominate conversations, enjoys the limelight, often doesn’t follow through, fun to be with, animated, disorganized and personally more open.
  • Steadiness (S): are good listeners, supportive, compassionate, passive, soft-spoken, resistant to change, likes detailed directions, prefers to follow, not lead, not hurried, slow to move and personally more open.
  • Conscientious (C): are information gatherers, analytical, talented, creative, reserved, introspective, perfectionist, meticulous, loyal, sensitive, task/goal orientated (wants to do things the right way the first time) and personally more guarded.

One of the great things about the Personality Profile report is that, in addition to information about you, it also details how someone with your style can interact and relate better with the other styles. DISC helps people to understand a person’s fundamental personality style so communication between two people can be adjusted accordingly.

For instance, if I lean towards the S personality and I have to give a presentation to a D style boss, I know I need to be direct, no small talk, get to the point,and give detailed information on how this will address a problem or turn a negative into a positive. And I need to have answers if there are any questions. I would not make small talk or ask about the last vacation with the kids.

If the presentation was to an I style boss, I would make it more informal and laid back, and I would make sure to ask about the kids and the last vacation.

The more someone deals with the personality types, the easier it becomes to recognize the different traits, and therefore how to deal with them.

It can really play a significant role in an office if everyone takes a personality assessment. You can map where everyone falls on the grid. Having all of one style on a team or in an office is a recipe for disaster. Every team needs people with all types of personality traits to make sure all the work is planned, executed and processed.

When customer service reps have to deal with consumers who have problems or concerns, knowing how to access or determine a few personality traits will go a long way to making sure the response and follow up exceeds expectations, which will lead to happier customers, repeat business and customer loyalty.

Paul Rutter is a customer loyalty, repeat business and customer service expert, a keynote speaker, corporate trainer and business author. He has had the unique opportunity to live with his customers and co-workers for months at a time traveling the world, and shares his experiences with land based businesses. For more information on More Than Perfect® Service, contact Paul at Paul@PaulRutterSpeaks.com, follow him on Twitter on @RealPaulRutter or visit him on Facebook/PaulRutterSpeaks.

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