THE DEATH OF THE DECISION MAKER
I had a revelation this week that has led me to think about an old “sales 101” rule in a completely different light. If you’ve been a salesperson for longer than 10 minutes, you certainly know rule #1 is to always talk to the decision maker. “Get past the gatekeeper….find the decision maker….”
You’ve heard this in sales training class for decades. But I’ve decided to re-write the rule. Here’s the deal: There is NO SUCH THING AS “A” DECISION MAKER anymore.
Gone are the days of “my way” or “the highway” management and people making decisions at their desk or over a two martini lunch. Without question, virtually every decision made by a purchaser includes input from more than one person. Granted one person may have veto power over the decision, but rest assured that that person is collecting input, opinion and data from others.
Here’s how I’d suggest you change your process given this new vane of thought:
1 -Talk to EVERYONE who will be impacted by the purchase. If you sell dump trucks, don’t just talk to the owner of the construction company, talk to the driver’s who will be using your equipment, talk to the dispatchers, talk to the maintenance people, and talk to the CFO. All of these people will be both involved in the decision to buy your dump trucks AND in the longevity of your relationship.
2 -Stop worrying about hurting people’s feelings. I hear this in our sales training classes a lot. “I don’t want to offend my buyer by going over their head.” That’s like saying, “I don’t want to tell that guy with cancer that I have a cure, because I only deal with his spouse.” INSANE. You’re there to HELP-not to keep everyone’s feelings from being hurt.
3 -Make it part of your process from Day 1: Be sure to tell new prospects the first time you meet them, that you’ll be talking to several people in their organization as you attempt to offer them a viable solution. You won’t get nearly as much resistance if you tell them upfront you’re going to talk to their boss than if you wait until it’s too late.
The death of “the decision maker” is upon us.
I agree. But why do you think that’s so? Is it because more products & services are becoming increasingly complex to the point that they affect more people in the organization? Is it an evolution in the way ALL decisions are now made in an organization?
CURT,
In many industries the sales process is becoming more complex–
mainly because implementation can be complex (and the biggest
pain). Therefore, companies are delegating more authority to
the field/tactical level.
That makes the selling process harder–more strategic. Seldom
can the seller call on one person. He calls on more–and must
understand the problems that each constituent has–not an
easy thing for most sellers who were trained on “convince and
persuade” as a strategy.
That’s why that model is washed up.
We’re in the mobility software space (http://www.notifylink.com). I’m told flat out by even high level executives that they are being overwhelmed by the volume of sales solicitations. The first rule should be to TRY and talk to as many people as possible. I don’t know about some of your other readers, but I’m only seeing a 1% to 3% response rate to phone or email contact.
I really like your idea of telling everyone up front that I will be speaking with others in their organization. This could result in more replies to communication requests, so no one feels left out of the loop.
RESPONSE: (Caskey)
Good point about ‘overwhelmed’ execs. Think about this–they are probably overwhelmed with lousy sales people with poor communication skills and unclear messages. So on one hand, you are competing with them for attention–but on the other hand–if you’re always working on your skills, you’ll get the right audience.
Best of luck.