Sales expert Ryan Dohrn identifies three types of buyers in sales: ego-driven buyers (roughly 5%), emotional buyers (approximately 60%, rising to 74-75% during the COVID-19 period), and logical buyers (35-40%). Most salespeople pitch the same way to all three, which is why deals stall. Each buyer type requires a distinct approach, and misreading the type is the most preventable reason salespeople lose deals they should win.
Sales trainer Ryan Dohrn identifies three buyer types: ego-driven (~5%), emotional (~60%, spiked to 74-75% post-COVID), and logical (~35-40%). Each requires a different sales approach. Pitching all three the same way is the most preventable reason deals stall.
Ryan Dohrn has trained more than 12,000 sales professionals across four decades in media and B2B sales. He’s a four-time Emmy Award winner, author of 360 Degree Sales, and the founder of Brain Swell Media, a sales training and consulting firm.
Dohrn developed the RD Way, a five-step sales framework built around the reality that most buyers have already made up their minds before a salesperson opens their mouth. His research into buyer psychology challenges most of what traditional sales training teaches about how to open, pitch, and close a deal.
Why Most Salespeople Pitch the Wrong Buyer Type
Research from SAP found that 89% of buyers prefer going to the dentist over meeting with a salesperson. That number sounds extreme until you sit with it.
The dentist is predictable. The salesperson is not.
The core problem isn’t that salespeople are bad at selling. It’s that they’re selling the same way to everyone.
They open with a pitch, push features, and expect logic to do the work. But the majority of buyers don’t make decisions based on logic at all.
Ryan Dohrn spent years observing buyer behavior across thousands of sales interactions. His conclusion: most salespeople spend their time crafting the perfect product pitch for a buyer type that makes up, at most, 40% of the people they’ll ever meet. The other 60% are looking for something else entirely before they’ll even consider what you’re selling.
The mismatch shows up in pipeline reports everywhere. Deals that seem warm go cold.
Prospects who seemed engaged go quiet. Follow-up emails get no response.
In most of these cases, the problem wasn’t the product, the price, or the competition. The salesperson was pitching to the wrong version of that buyer. Understanding how B2B buyers actually move through a purchase decision is the starting point for fixing this.
Direct Answer: According to SAP research cited by sales trainer Ryan Dohrn, 89% of buyers say they would rather visit a dentist than meet with a salesperson. This statistic reflects widespread buyer distrust of traditional sales approaches and highlights why salespeople who rely on a single pitch style consistently underperform with the majority of their prospects.
The 3 Types of Buyers in Sales (And How Common Each One Is)
Understanding buyer types isn’t about putting people in boxes. It’s about recognizing that buyers have different primary motivations, and that the wrong approach with the wrong type reliably kills deals. Ryan Dohrn’s framework separates buyers into three groups based on what actually drives their purchasing decisions.
The Ego-Driven Buyer (About 5% of Buyers)
Ego-driven buyers make up a small fraction of the market, but they’re easy to spot once you know what to look for. They want to feel important. They name-drop.
They talk about who they know and what they’ve achieved. They make purchasing decisions based largely on what the purchase says about them.
These buyers aren’t motivated by ROI or relationship. They’re motivated by status. If you can make them the hero of the story, if the purchase reflects well on their judgment and position, they’ll move quickly.
The trap is taking them literally. Ego-driven buyers often say they want data, but what they actually want is validation. Give them recognition first, then the facts that back up the decision they’ve already made.
Direct Answer: An ego-driven buyer is motivated primarily by status and recognition. They represent approximately 5% of buyers, according to sales trainer Ryan Dohrn. They respond best to approaches that position the purchase as a reflection of their good judgment, and they move fastest when made to feel like the decision is theirs.
The Emotional Buyer (About 60% of Buyers, Higher Post-COVID)
Emotional buyers are the largest group in most sales environments, roughly 60% before the COVID-19 pandemic and as high as 74-75% during it. The pandemic accelerated a shift that was already underway: buyers became more risk-averse, more relationship-dependent, and more likely to delay decisions unless they trusted the person across the table.
Emotional buyers don’t lead with data requests. They lead with questions about you.
They want to know who you’ve worked with, how you handled problems, and whether people like them have succeeded using what you’re selling. Success stories are the primary sales tool with this group.
The mistake salespeople make with emotional buyers is trying to close too fast. An emotional buyer who doesn’t trust you yet will not buy regardless of price or product quality. The relationship has to come before the transaction.
This matters even more in virtual selling. Without in-person cues (body language, eye contact, physical presence), emotional buyers make trust decisions based on visual professionalism. A cluttered background, poor lighting, or a shaky camera can end a deal before the pitch starts.
Direct Answer: Emotional buyers make purchasing decisions based on trust and relationship before logic. They represent approximately 60% of buyers in most markets, rising to 74-75% during the COVID-19 period according to sales trainer Ryan Dohrn. They respond best to success stories, referrals, and a consistent sales experience that builds confidence over time before any close is attempted.
The Logical Buyer (About 35-40% of Buyers)
Logical buyers want proof. They ask detailed questions, request case studies, and often put the conversation on hold while they compare alternatives.
They’re not stalling. They’re processing.
The instinct to pressure a logical buyer into a faster decision almost always backfires. They interpret pressure as a sign that the salesperson is hiding something. What works instead is giving them more of what they’re already asking for: data, third-party validation, specific examples with measurable outcomes.
Logical buyers often seem colder than emotional buyers, but they’re not disengaged. They’re evaluating.
When a logical buyer asks for a proposal, a reference call, or a comparison chart, that’s buying behavior. Treat it as forward motion, not an obstacle.
Direct Answer: A logical buyer makes purchasing decisions based on data, evidence, and rational comparison. They represent approximately 35-40% of buyers according to sales trainer Ryan Dohrn. They respond best to detailed information, third-party proof, and salespeople who give them time to evaluate without pressure.
Quick Reference: 3 Types of Buyers Compared
Use this reference table to match buyer signals to the right approach before your next conversation. The goal is to enter every meeting with a clear read on which type you’re dealing with.
| Buyer Type | % of Market | What Drives Them | How to Build Trust | Closing Approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ego-Driven | ~5% | Status and recognition | Validate their judgment | Frame the decision as theirs |
| Emotional | ~60% (up to 74-75% post-COVID) | Relationship before product | Success stories from similar clients | Invitation, not transaction |
| Logical | ~35-40% | Data and evidence | Third-party proof and time to evaluate | Share data, then give space |
Direct Answer: The three types of buyers in sales differ primarily in what drives their purchasing decisions. Ego-driven buyers decide based on status (~5%), emotional buyers decide based on trust (~60%), and logical buyers decide based on data (~35-40%). The correct sales approach depends entirely on correctly identifying which type you are facing.
How to Identify Buyer Type Before You Walk In the Room
Ryan Dohrn recommends spending time on LinkedIn before every sales conversation. Not to check their job title. To read who they are.
Most salespeople treat LinkedIn as a contact database. Dohrn treats it as a buyer type decoder.
Look at what they post and what they comment on. Ego-driven buyers post frequently about their own achievements, their company milestones, their speaking engagements.
They share content that positions them as authorities. If their feed reads like a personal highlight reel, you’re likely dealing with an ego-driven buyer.
Emotional buyers are different. They share stories. They comment on other people’s posts with personal notes.
Their activity is more relational than promotional. They’re more likely to have recommendations on their profile and to have written recommendations for others.
Logical buyers often have sparse personal activity. Their posts, if they exist at all, tend to be industry news, research findings, or technical content. They engage with data more than they engage with people.
This pre-call research takes five to ten minutes. The return is a meeting where you can lead with the right approach from the first sentence, rather than spending the first 20 minutes trying to read the room. It’s also one reason thought leadership content works so well in B2B sales: a prospect’s engagement with a founder’s posts before a meeting already signals their buyer type.
Direct Answer: Before a sales meeting, reviewing a prospect’s LinkedIn activity can reveal their buyer type. Ego-driven buyers post about personal achievements; emotional buyers engage relationally and share stories; logical buyers engage with data and research. Sales trainer Ryan Dohrn recommends this pre-call research as a way to enter conversations with the right approach from the start.
The RD Way: Ryan Dohrn’s 5-Step Sales Framework
Most sales training focuses on the close. Ryan Dohrn argues the close is almost irrelevant if the steps before it are done right. He developed the RD Way as a sequence that makes closing a natural outcome rather than a pressure moment.
Step 1: Research
Before the meeting, Dohrn spends time understanding the prospect’s business, industry challenges, and competitive position. The goal isn’t to impress them with how much you know.
It’s to ask better questions and to avoid asking things the prospect expects you to already know the answer to. Showing up prepared is itself a trust signal, especially for emotional buyers.
Step 2: Success Stories
After the initial conversation, Dohrn leads with success stories rather than product features. Specifically, stories about clients who faced the same challenges the prospect is dealing with now, and what happened after they implemented a solution. This step is primary for emotional buyers, but it also provides the social proof logical buyers need to start evaluating seriously.
Step 3: Recommendations
Rather than pitching everything, Dohrn narrows the presentation to a specific recommendation based on what he’s learned about the prospect’s situation. This keeps the logical buyer from drowning in options and keeps the emotional buyer focused on what’s most relevant to their problem.
Step 4: Close
The close comes after trust and relevance are already established. Dohrn uses a 1-to-10 close technique: he asks the prospect to rate their readiness to move forward on a scale of 1 to 10.
If they say 7, he asks what would make it an 8. This makes the obstacle visible without creating adversarial pressure.
Step 5: Retention
Dohrn treats the close as the beginning of the relationship, not the end of the sale. Post-sale follow-up, check-ins, and continued delivery against what was promised are how emotional buyers become referral sources and how logical buyers become repeat buyers.
Direct Answer: The RD Way is a five-step B2B sales framework developed by Ryan Dohrn: Research (understand the prospect before the meeting), Success Stories (lead with social proof over product features), Recommendations (make a specific suggestion based on their situation), Close (use a 1-to-10 readiness scale to surface obstacles), and Retention (treat post-sale follow-up as part of the sales process). The framework is designed to make closing a natural outcome rather than a pressure event.
Closing Techniques That Match Each Buyer Type
The 1-to-10 close works because it externalizes the obstacle. Instead of asking “are you ready to move forward?” (a binary question that invites a “no”), ask “on a scale of 1 to 10, how close are you to making a decision?”
A prospect who says 6 has just told you they’re more than halfway there. A prospect who says 4 has told you something is holding them back. In both cases, your follow-up question is the same: “What would need to happen to get to an 8?”
That single question surfaces the actual objection without confrontation. The prospect defines the gap. You work on closing the gap rather than pushing past it.
With ego-driven buyers, close around their decision. “Based on everything we’ve discussed, I think this is the right move, and I think you’ll be glad you made it.” They want confidence, not a committee.
With emotional buyers, close around the relationship and the outcome. “Other clients in your situation have done really well with this. I’d love to work with you on it.” The close should feel like an invitation, not a transaction.
With logical buyers, close around the data. Give them a timeline, a comparison, and a clear picture of what happens next if they say yes.
Then give them space. A logical buyer who needs 48 hours to review a proposal is not dragging their feet. They’re doing their job.
The two-deck technique applies here as well. Dohrn recommends leading with a value deck (business impact, client results, the problem being solved) before ever opening a product deck.
Logical buyers get more confident when the value case comes first. Emotional buyers relax before the features come out.
Direct Answer: The 1-to-10 close, used by sales trainer Ryan Dohrn, asks prospects to rate their readiness to move forward on a scale of 1 to 10, then asks what would need to change to reach a higher number. This technique surfaces objections without adversarial pressure and gives the salesperson specific information about what is preventing the close.
CEO Takeaway
- Roughly 60% of your prospects are emotional buyers. They need trust before they’ll hear your pitch. Success stories and relationship-building aren’t soft skills. They’re the primary sales tool for your largest buyer segment.
- Spend 10 minutes on LinkedIn before every meeting. A prospect’s posting behavior tells you their buyer type before you’ve said a word.
- The 1-to-10 close doesn’t push. It surfaces. Ask “what would make it an 8?” and the prospect will tell you exactly what’s in the way.
Why Virtual Selling Has Made Buyer Type Detection More Critical
In a face-to-face meeting, salespeople pick up on dozens of signals before anyone says a word. Posture, eye contact, how someone moves around a room, whether they lean forward or back when a topic comes up. Virtual selling removes most of those cues.
The result is that buyer type detection has become harder to do in real time, and more important to do before the meeting starts.
Emotional buyers feel this shift the most. In person, a warm presence can build rapport quickly. On a video call, the same person looks at a screen.
What builds trust remotely is consistency and professionalism. A clean background, direct eye contact with the camera, proper lighting, and a stable connection are not aesthetic choices. For an emotional buyer, they are trust signals.
Dohrn is direct about this: if you look unprofessional on camera, the emotional buyer will not trust you. It won’t be a conscious decision. They’ll just feel uncomfortable, and the deal will slow down.
Virtual selling also compresses the relationship-building window. You have fewer minutes of natural conversation before the formal presentation. The pre-meeting LinkedIn research matters even more in that context.
Direct Answer: For emotional buyers, the largest buyer type at approximately 60% of the market, virtual selling requires deliberate professionalism to build the trust that in-person interactions establish naturally. According to Ryan Dohrn, camera setup, background, and lighting are trust signals that directly affect whether an emotional buyer will move forward with a purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions About Types of Buyers in Sales
What are the 3 main types of buyers in sales?
According to sales trainer Ryan Dohrn, the three main types of buyers in sales are ego-driven buyers (approximately 5% of prospects), emotional buyers (approximately 60%, rising to 74-75% during the COVID-19 period), and logical buyers (approximately 35-40%). Each type has different decision-making priorities and responds to different sales approaches.
How do you identify what type of buyer you’re dealing with?
Ryan Dohrn recommends reviewing a prospect’s LinkedIn activity before every meeting. Ego-driven buyers post frequently about their own achievements.
Emotional buyers engage relationally, sharing stories and commenting on others’ posts. Logical buyers tend to engage with data, research, and industry content. This five-to-ten minute review can shape the entire sales approach from the first conversation.
What percentage of buyers are emotional buyers?
In most sales environments, approximately 60% of buyers are emotional buyers, according to Ryan Dohrn. During the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure rose to as high as 74-75% as buyers became more risk-averse and relationship-dependent. Emotional buyers make purchasing decisions based on trust and relationship before they evaluate product fit or price.
What is the best way to sell to an emotional buyer?
Emotional buyers need to trust you before they’ll consider what you’re selling. The most effective approach, according to Ryan Dohrn, is to lead with success stories from clients in similar situations, build the relationship before attempting a close, and in virtual settings, present professionally on camera since visual cues are primary trust signals for this buyer type.
How has virtual selling changed buyer behavior?
Virtual selling has increased the proportion of emotional buying behavior, partly because the pandemic accelerated it and partly because remote interactions remove the in-person trust-building cues salespeople traditionally relied on. For emotional buyers specifically, Ryan Dohrn notes that camera setup, background, and lighting have become trust signals that directly affect purchasing decisions. Pre-call research and relationship-building matter more, not less, in a virtual environment.
The Takeaway
Most salespeople were never taught to sell to the buyer in front of them. They were taught to sell the product.
Ryan Dohrn’s framework challenges that. Once you understand that roughly 60% of your prospects are making trust decisions before they’re making product decisions, the entire structure of a sales conversation changes.
The pre-meeting research changes. The opening changes.
The close changes. Even how you set up your camera on a video call changes.
The buyers who seem difficult to reach aren’t usually resistant to what you’re selling. They’re resistant to being sold the wrong way.
If you want to build a sales process that matches how buyers actually decide, that work starts with content. At Sproutworth, we help B2B companies build educational content that reaches buyers during the research phase, before a salesperson ever enters the conversation.
The best close is the one that doesn’t feel like one.
Related Links
- Ryan Dohrn’s website: Sales training resources, articles, and coaching programs
- Brain Swell Media: Ryan Dohrn’s sales consulting and training firm
- Ryan Dohrn on LinkedIn: Connect with Ryan for sales training resources and updates
- 360 Degree Sales by Ryan Dohrn: The book behind the RD Way framework
- Episode 296: 3 Different Buyer Types and How to Sell to Each One to Drive Growth: Predictable B2B Success podcast
About Ryan Dohrn
Ryan Dohrn is a sales trainer, author, and speaker who has worked with more than 12,000 sales professionals across media, publishing, and B2B industries. He is a four-time Emmy Award winner and the author of 360 Degree Sales.
Dohrn founded Brain Swell Media, a sales training and consulting firm, and developed the RD Way, a five-step sales methodology built around buyer psychology. He shared this framework in Episode 296 of the Predictable B2B Success podcast.
