Selling means speaking the right language: your customer's language. The Process Com® or Process Communication Model® (PCM) helps you to decode communication profiles, adapt your speech and convince better. This model, used by NASA and then adapted to management and sales, has become a lever for sales performance. Jean-Marie Quil, consultant trainer at Mémentor Action, Sales Director and Training Director, explains.
You know that strange situation: the meeting is going perfectly, your customer seems convinced... then suddenly the link breaks. What you say hasn't changed, but the connection has.
What the Process Communication Model® (PCM) is to understand why it happens and, above all, how to avoid it.
Understanding the psychological motivations of your customers
Developed in the 1970s by psychologist Taïbi Kahler for NASA, Process Com® aimed to create crews capable of cooperating effectively under stress. NASA had been working on this subject since the 2th World War and has continued to use Process Com® for over 40 years. The model was soon applied to management and then to sales.
Process Com® reveals how each personality perceives, communicates and makes decisions.
Applying Process Com® to sales
Process Com® vente enables you to :
- Get to know yourself better to identify your areas of weakness and avoid making mistakes under stress
- Understanding the way each customer functions and their psychological needs
- Adapt your posture and speech to the personality of the person you are talking to
- Using the right communication channel to win over customers and build loyalty
- Facilitating the sales relationship, increasing and boosting your sales efficiency
«With the PCM, I've realised that some customers don't need more arguments, but a different tone, rhythm or word. It changes everything in the relationship. Sébastien, Key Account Sales Manager
Process Com®: the keys to decoding your customers
Base characteristics
Think of personality as a 6-storey building. The first, the basis, represents the dominant structure your contact. The upper floors, the phases, translate its needs and sources of motivation.
The 6 basic types are :
| Bases | Features |
| Promoter | Adaptable, charming, persuasive |
| Imagineer | Imaginative, calm, thoughtful |
| Empathetic | Compassionate, warm, attentive to the needs of others |
| Persevering | Committed, observant, conscientious |
| Analyzer | Logical, responsible, organised |
| Energizer | Creative, fun, spontaneous |
You need to aim for the base to get in touch with your contact.
Discovering the phases then enables us to «fuel» the customer with the «right fuel», the fuel that will set them in motion.
«Identifying my customer's profile from the outset enables me to calibrate my approach: some want to get straight to the point, others need to get a feel for the relationship before talking business.» Amel, B-to-B sales engineer
Decode the clues and adjust your strategy
Observe your contact's environment. This will enable you to deduce his or her background and refine your sales strategy.
The way his workplace is organised (or disorganised), the way he expresses himself (verbally and non-verbally) and the way he dresses are all clues that will enable you to diagnose him on a case-by-case basis.
The way they welcome you (face-to-face meetings), the way they talk to their colleagues and their areas of interest are other valuable clues to gather.
Depending on their personality, they seek to satisfy the psychological needs of their current phase, such as :
| Current phase | Psychological need |
| Promoter | Excitement, intense sensations |
| Imagineer | Need for solitude and calm |
| Empathetic | Recognition for oneself, satisfaction of sensory needs |
| Persevering | Recognition for the work you do, recognition for your convictions |
| Analyzer | Recognition for qualitative and quantitative work, structuring of time |
| Energizer | Need for playful contact |
A fast, direct tone? Probably a basis Promoter.
Lots of internal dialogue, long silences? You're facing a base Imagineer.
A warm space decorated with photos? More like a base Empathetic.
A focus on ethical issues and values, a prescriptive tone? Discourse from a base Persevering.
A structured, orderly environment? You are undoubtedly looking at a base Analyzer.
A speech peppered with onomatopoeia and an enthusiastic tone? Revealing a base Energizer.
To be as sure as possible of your hypothesis on the basis, you need to have detected at least 3 overlapping clues.
Selling effectively means adapting to your customer's personality and style.
The right channels for smooth communication
Process Com® distinguishes 4 communication channels depending on the customer's personality.
The right communication channel for your customer makes it easier to connect with them, meaning that your message is received correctly and the response on the same channel indicates that your message is understood.
PCM® rule: if the offer and the acceptance of the offer take place on the same channel, there is communication.
- Nourishing Canal For use with Empathetic base clients
Examples of wording: «I'm very happy to be working with you on this project», «Thank you for mentioning it, I'm delighted too».
- Interrogative channel For use with the basic Analyzer or Perseverant clients
«Have you checked the oil pressure? Yes, it complies with the manufacturer's specifications».
- Emotional Channel For use with a basic Energiser client
«I love working with you, we have a good laugh», «Me too, it's the only way to be serious».
- Direct Channel For use with basic Promoter or Imagineer clients
«Tell me how many references this new customer has», «25, including 5 top-of-the-range».
A successful salesperson is one who knows how to change floors in your «inner lift» - abandon your preferred communication channel - to speak the language of the person you are talking to. It is this relational flexibility that transforms a good presentation into a successful sale.
In other words: don't sell the way you like to be sold, but the way you want to be sold. your customer likes to be talked to.
Managing stressful situations: preventing miscommunication
When tension rises, lucidity falls. Each base and each phase has its own specific stress sequence: it's a situation of miscommunication.
Stress sequences can be decoded according to different profiles.
The stress sequence that appears first is that of the current phase.
- Promoter : Expects others to fend for themselves. Says «you» instead of «I» when talking about himself.
- Imagineer : waits passively, scatters.
- Empathetic : over-adapts, has difficulty saying no, hesitates and makes mistakes.
- Persevering : overqualifies, expects perfection from others, focuses on what's wrong.
- Analyzer : becomes a perfectionist for him, overqualifies when he speaks, doesn't delegate easily.
- Energizer : pretends not to understand.
Identifying these signals in your customer allows you to adjust your communication before the break.
The successful sales person is not the one who speaks best, but the one who listens and integrates the signals of Process Com®. They are then able to develop a chameleon-like posture: capable of adapting to the person they are talking to and creating the right link. In other words, to blend into their customer's environment to make a successful sale. He then uses :
- the base, the ignition key
- phase, the driving force behind motivation
- the channel, the right tone to convince
The sale is a meeting of two personality architectures. Calm, relevant communication is the key to success.
«Since I started using PCM, my appointments are shorter... but more effective. I can sense when the customer is ready to make a decision. David, IT sales manager
Get trained!
Discover the training programme Process Communication Model®, introduction. Learn how to decode the profiles of the people you're talking to, adjust your language and strengthen your impact on people.
Example of practical work: in sub-groups, adapt the sales meeting to the 6 personality types for 3 periods (before, during and after the meeting).
Process Com® offers you much more than a method. It's a compass for adjusting your communication, building trust with your customer and closing more sales. By speaking your customers' language, you can turn every interaction into an opportunity for commercial success.
