See the woman on the left? Would you walk into her office and start chatting about the traffic or the weather? Would you try to engage her in chitchat in an attempt to build trust? No. She’d call security to escort you out of the building. She is a “Gold.” Other Personality Type programs call her a Decision-Maker Guardian, Driver, Dominant, Organizer, Leader, Choleric, or Economic. As you can tell from the names, these people have no time for idle small talk.
I use the term “Decision-Maker” to give you an idea of how these people filter information and make decisions. However, because such terms carry a value judgment, let’s avoid this by using the term “Gold.’ You can remember the color more easily and it circumvents the prejudice.
I’ve met many advisors who fall into the Gold category. They’re amazing people. Let’s talk about how to spot them.
Golds probably don’t have lines on their forehead. That’s because they’re walking, talking evaluation machines. Actors Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman fit this profile. There’s plenty going on in their heads, but their faces don’t show much (if any) emotion. They always appear calm, cool, and collected. Other film stars don’t fit this profile notice the forehead lines on Jack Nicholson and Gene Hackman.
Some Golds show their judging capability in their eyebrows. A person who raises a single eyebrow probably assesses people, things, and situations on a regular basis. This causes the muscles that raise that eyebrow to become stronger and more dominant. Notice the folds of skin above this eyebrow. That’s a Gold, a Decision-Maker.
Golds love comparing value and then making a decision based on this comparison. If you can draw a straight line from initial fact to ultimate decision, you can understand how Golds focus their energy. If you can then draw a few lines shooting off to the side, this is where Golds file anything that doesn’t relate directly to the decision-.making activity.
Golds are highly conservative and never take any more than the tiniest of calculated risks. If you say, “new concept in financial products” or “developing markets,” you’ll upset their sensibilities, and break any rapport you might have developed.
There are people who have goals — and then there are the Decision-Makers. They live and breathe goals, deadlines, benchmarks, ROI, supply-chain efficiency and the bottom line. If you can’t deliver or operate effectively under this type of scrutiny, don’t try to work with or sell to these people.
Think of Golds doing all of their expressing inside their heads. They’re like machines designed, built, and programmed to take in essential information and make quick, calculated decisions based on this information. They don’t take chances. As “in the box” thinkers, they follow the established ways, adhere to the company model and will never “wing it,” or improvise.
Golds display these values:
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Duty
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Family
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Commitment
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Loyalty
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Accountability
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Honor
Right & Wrong
Relevance to Sales and Management
If you’re making a presentation to a Gold, always be on time and dress conservatively. Golds are formal. Hedge on the side of understatement. Be sure your numbers are logical and perfect. Substantiate your claims because Golds will gladly shoot holes in them and expose weaknesses you might not have seen.
One of the best strategies with Golds is to involve them in a short procedure. They’ll feel compelled to complete the procedure because this means succeeding, and that’s what they’re all about.
Golds also possess some or all of these characteristics:
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Responsible
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Efficient
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Action-oriented
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Perfectionist
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Sets high standards
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Proud
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Makes decisions easily
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Likes to make decisions for others
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Competitive
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Excels at time management
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Task oriented
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Focuses on the immediate and tangible, rather than the theoretical or emotional
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Highly conscious of the chain of command and respects hierarchy
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Loyal
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Has a strong sense of honor
Combinations
Symmetrical lines on his forehead represent the “V” of disapproval. Although this person has the horizontal lines of a Red, the inverted “V” between his eyebrows shows worry, probably from being a perfectionist. Because nothing is ever perfect, he feels displeasure and expresses it on his face.