Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve been introducing you to the animal factor… personalities for success.

Last week you met the peaceful koala… the nurturer of society. In the previous weeks, you’ve met the lion… the A-Type personality and the monkey… the life of the party.

In our final trek through the jungle, you’re going to become acquainted with the wise owl. I’m going to show you how to close an analytical prospect.

So… let’s finish up the expedition and make our introductions!

Owls are the thinkers of society. They are dedicated to order and organization. They are the analyzers of life. Without the owls, we would have very little poetry, art, literature and philosophy.

Without them, we wouldn’t have the engineers, the inventors and the scientists.

The owl is deep, quiet, thoughtful, born with a pessimistic nature and foresees problems before they happen. This personality type is thinking, planning, creating, inventing and are willing to stick to dull routines… provided they can see results of the future. They can sit by the hour practicing and perfecting… doing everything that is so routine for the typical person, but this excites the owl.

As a child, I was like this… I used to romance putting all my soldiers in order. All my toys were perfect and it used to drive me crazy if my brother would move anything.

Owl personalities respond well to teachers and parents who are organized and people who keep the day going in a very logical, methodical fashion. This type of personality is always organizing. As children, they actually enjoy doing the dishes and enjoy cleaning the house for their parents because it makes perfect sense.

The owl is the deepest thinker and they make up 15% of society. They’re the type of personality that has the highest IQ and this is where geniuses come from.

Trait’s of the Owl

Here are some common traits of the wise old owl…

They’re private, selective and reserved… They’re cool, detached and unemotional at first. They’re logical, intellectual and analytical. Sometimes, they can be confusing communicators. They love working alone, often with computers, numbers, science… anything that allows them to really think. They are intellectual, logical and skeptical. You may find that they have a superior attitude. They may be critical and appear insensitive.

You will find that they use thoughtful figurative language and often times talk over the rest of society’s head. They’re good listeners and seek creative solutions. They prefer one on one communication. You will also find that they are resistant to changing their mind.

Let’s take a look at some of our perfect owl’s weaknesses.

The owl personality definitely suffers from paralysis of analysis at times. They spend too much time getting ready to get ready…. focusing too much energy on being perfect, far too critical and far too cautious. They tend to be more pessimistic and more skeptical than any of the other animals in the kingdom and are more withdrawn. These are the loners of society.

Taking what you’ve learned so far about the owl, let’s learn how to connect with this personality.

Communicating with the Owl

Here is how you learn to communicate with the wise old owl…

Provide plenty of accurate facts. Stress the practical application. Outline all necessary steps clearly. Give explicit instructions. Present information sequentially. Provide adequate time for an owl to consider a proposal and put it writing. Speak slowly and clearly. Avoid small talk. Always honor your commitments. Appeal to their creative ingenuity. Use logical reasoning and stress future implications.

It is a MUST to be organized and you should definitely AVOID errors.

With the owl, demonstrate competence and confidence. Outline a strategy for implementing ideas. And don’t expect appreciation or praise from this personality type. Don’t take criticism personally. Present logical, not emotional arguments. Don’t force him or her to decide too quickly.

CAUTION: This is the type of personality that will interrupt you in mid-sentence and say…

“What is this about? Can you give me some information?”

They will often times come across very pessimistic, very skeptical and appear to be rude, although that isn’t their intention. 

This is not someone that you want to get in the ring with because they are over-reliant on data and information. Avoid long of conversations with this type of personality because you will eventually be trapped in a situation where you can’t answer a question. One of their great desires is to prove that they are right.

Beware…they tend to project an image of pessimism, however, all they really want are the facts. This type of personality takes the longest time to make a decision, so don’t push them. Give them the facts, figures, documentation and move on.

Low and behold…

…sometimes they will call you back, but don’t chase the owl because he or she will fly away fast.

Their decision-making process is mostly logical with very little emotion. Once their minds are made up, they can become doers. They’re truly the plow horse… not the racehorse. And they typically win over the long haul.

Closing the Owl

Let me start by telling you that the owl is the most difficult of all personalities to market or sell to because they have to have all the decision-making process based on logic and facts. They seldom ever make emotional decisions.

Owls love charts, graphs, websites, data, and information. They are very serious when it comes to making a decision. Be ready, because they’re going to ask you many questions.

Here’s what to do…

Study their desires in a logical, practical manner. Chart the benefits for them. Have all the facts, figures and documentation that they deserve to make an intelligent decision. Understand that the owl is the genius of the jungle and more geniuses come out of his temperament and any type of personality. 

However… what you must understand is that they’re going to base their decisions on facts and logical evidence. So… document how your products and business have assisted many people to achieve their goals and dreams.

Understand that the owl is going to be skeptical and you’ll get statements from the owl like:

“This sounds too good to be true. I’m skeptical.”

No kidding!

Understand that that’s part of their logic. Don’t be too quick to jump in the ring with him or her, but also, don’t be too quick to discard them even though they may appear aloof or skeptical. Ask them questions. Then, when they ask you questions, answer with a statement and return a question.

This is the type of personality temperament that you can get a lot of mileage out of using the 3-letter word WHY. Be prepared to answer lots of questions but, in the same breath, I’m going to tell you… don’t get into too many questions with this personality temperament or you will be involved in a conversation for well over an hour.

When closing this person, don’t use any kind of gimmick. You may be able to challenge the lion, but this is not the type of personality temperament to do that with. Just give them the information and documentation that they deserve so they can make an intelligent decision. Stress the statement intelligent decision so that way they feel they’re in control. They have a strong desire to be right and a strong desire to be in control. The best ways to communicate with this person is to allow them to be right so you can be rich.

When you get an owl into your business, your enterprise, association or your community… they can appear to waste your time but this is just their process. They are the most perfectionistic of all the personality temperaments.

They dress meticulously… They have those containers in their pocket that hold pens, calipers and all the pencils they feel they have to have to dissect a particular equation.

The owl is often offended by loud, manipulative lions. Owls tend to take things way too personally and they frequently look for trouble in chaos. It’s very easy for this personality to gravitate toward negativity. They also are very good at creating politics. They like to stir it up and create controversy. They’re not lighthearted and jovial as many of the other personalities seem to be.

In summarizing the perfect owl, they can be the introverted the thinker and often times a pessimist. They are idealistic, conscientious, serious and purposeful. They are extremely intelligent and genius prone. They are massively talented and highly creative thinkers that gravitate to the artistic or musical fields. They are very schedule oriented and perfectionist with extremely high standards when it comes to details. And that is their main hot button…. details, details, details.

 (Did you miss last week’s blog post about the koala? Click here now to read it.)