How Top Sales Professionals Adapt Their Communication to Buyers
In this episode of Ask The Professor, Ari Justice and Professor Ben Hippeli continue the conversation on DISC and how communication styles impact every stage of the sales process. Whether you’re working on short transactional sales or navigating complex, long-cycle deals, this conversation breaks down why a one-size-fits-all sales approach fails – and how adapting your communication style can improve rapport, trust, and close rates.
You’ll learn how to observe and assess a prospect’s DISC style in real time, how vocal tone, pacing, and body language influence buyer comfort and why mirroring communication styles create faster alignment.
If your sales team struggles with stalled deals, miscommunication, or inconsistent results, this episodes provides practical insight you can immediately apply to improve conversations, shorten sales cycles, and build stronger buyer relationships.
What is DISC?
DISC is a powerful framework that breaks down human behavior into four primary styles — Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. By understanding these styles, leaders can recognize their own tendencies while adapting their approach to better connect with their team.
Here’s what you’ll walk away with from this episode:
- There is No One-Size-Fits-All Conversation: Treating every prospect the same creates friction, misunderstanding and lost opportunities. Effective sellers adapt their approach to match how the buyer thinks and communicates.
- Observation is a Core Sales Skill: What prospects say, how fast they speak, and how use of body language all reveal their preferred communication style.
- Silence is Okay: For some styles, silence creates space to think, evaluate risks, and process accuracy. Rushing to fill silence often derails deals by preventing buyers from sharing the concerns that actually matter.
- Vocal Entrainment Builds Trust Faster: Matching a buyer’s pace, tone, and intensity improves empathy, rapport, and efficiency. When communication patterns align, conversations flow more naturally and agreements become easier to reach.
- Rapport and Trust look Different for Every DISC Style: Knowing how each style builds trust allows sellers to guide conversations without creating resistance.
If you want your sales team to consistently adapt to buyers, communicate more effectively, and execute a repeatable sales process, schedule a conversation with a Benchmark Training executive coach.
Book a sales team development consultation today.
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