Sales Leapfrog

Occasionally, you'll find yourself in the position of needing to speak to somebody above your current contact. As mentioned in the article entitled “The Unknown Decision Maker,” the two primary parties involved in the decision process are the decision maker and the influencers. The influencers are usually those who use the product or gain a direct benefit from someone else using the product or service. In most cases, salespeople find themselves speaking to influencers more often than not.

Decision makers are the people that hold the authority to make “yes” decisions. However, the looming question you must continue to ask yourself is: "What should I do when I realize I’m calling on an influencer and I need the person that can make a decision?"

Knowing how to maneuver your way through this scenario can be as daunting as trying to find a move when you’ve been checkmated in chess. A truly difficult dilemma, it almost feels like mission impossible.

I've been in the position just recently when speaking to an influencer who fashioned himself as a decision maker. I knew in my heart I needed to get directly to the decision maker, but how could I effectively maneuver my way past my contact and to the decision maker without causing undo problems?

Find the Decision Maker

Here are five steps you can use the next time you are faced with the daunting task of finding the decision maker.

1. Evaluate the influencer's authority to the best of your ability.
2. Assess their buy-in.
3. Sell the importance of a group conference call.
4. Write a letter or make a phone call directly to the decision maker.
5. Leverage return on investment and value propositions.

Evaluate The Influencer's Authority

This step is critical in your success. You must understand how much authority the influencer possesses. He or she may not be able to make the ultimate decision; however, there are some influencers who are part of the decision maker’s mastermind counsel. A mastermind counsel is a group of people that help decision makers make quality decisions. Kind of like the President of the United States’ cabinet. In some cases, decision makers empower their influencers to make decisions for them. However, sometimes influencers are not adept at making quality decisions based on well thought out business cases.

Your initial job is to find out where the influencer has positioned himself with the decision maker. The more authority the influencer has in influencing the decision, the more caution you must demonstrate when approaching the crossroad to leapfrog over the influencer.

There are three quick litmus test questions you can use to help determine the influencer's authority:

1. "It appears you recognize the value of our product/service. Can you please describe for me how the decision process works within your organization?"

2. "How often do you work with the decision maker (use decision maker’s name) to make decisions such as this one?"

3. "It appears that our product/service makes sense to you. Do you have the authority to make a decision regarding these types of products/services today? (If they say “yes,” you're in business. If they say “no,” you need to follow up with the question.) Who will be assisting you in this decision process?"

In addition to questions, assessing the influencer’s personality and demeanor throughout your relationship will help you determine their power. You may notice the influencer has a meek personality and appears to be most interested in the features of your product and not necessarily the return it brings to her organization. If this is the case, she is a weak influencer. The more willing she is to speak about real numbers, such as return on investment, budget, and growth the greater the chance she holds more power in the decision process.

Assess Buy-In from Decision Makers

It is crucial once you have been presenting to an influencer, that you determine his personal buy-in. The reason for this is, you want to ensure he’s on-board with your idea so you can use him as an advocate when you speak to the final decision maker.

Through research, the easiest way I’ve found to accomplish assessing buy-in is to eliminate the decision maker in an example scenario for the influencer.

For instance:

Seller: "Mr. Prospect, you’ve had an opportunity to evaluate our accounting software. I understand that Sue Edwards, the president, will be assisting you in this decision. However, assuming you're making the decision on your own, would you make a yes decision to move forward with this now?"

Buyer: "Well, I have to be honest. I like the software and its functionality. However, the main thing I'm concerned with is expansion. It seems that if we exceed 50 to 75 users we will begin to notice performance issues. What recommendations do you have to address this type of problem?"

As you can see in this example, the seller puts herself in position to receive a commitment for the sale with the influencer. The importance of doing this gives the seller power when it comes time to speak to the final decision maker.

It is important to gain the buy-in of the influencer before you begin your discussions with the final decision maker. You do not want the influencer questioning his decision regarding your product/service when it comes time for you to present to the key decision maker. You need the influencer’s vote of confidence. If the influencer has already bought your idea, she will become an advocate for you and help sell it up to the decision maker.

Without a commitment on behalf of the influencer, the decision maker is less likely to buy your idea. It is for this reason, you always need to keep the influencer on your side and continue to qualify her as though she is making the final decision.

However, do not underestimate the importance of getting to the final decision maker at all phases of the sale. If you find you speak to influencers more often than you speak to final decision makers, you need to reevaluate why you’re not getting to the proper contact.

Sell The Importance Of A Group Conference Call

Conference calls are a terrific way to bring influencers and decision makers together. Once you've identified that you are presenting to an influencer, your goal is to get the decision maker involved as quickly as possible. The easiest way of doing this is scheduling a conference call. Scheduling this type of event usually requires nothing more than asking.

Example:

Seller: "Mr. influencer, you mentioned that Sue Edwards, the president, would be assisting you in this decision process. As you and your company are experts in the widget industry, I bring with me expertise regarding our products/services. As best practice, I believe it's important for Sue, you and me to speak via a conference call. This will allow all of us the opportunity to ask questions and have them answered. I've got some time next week toward the beginning of the week on Monday or Tuesday to speak with both of you. Which day and time works best for Susan and yourself?"

If you notice resistance with this tactic, start asking questions which cannot be answered at the influencer level. For instance, asking financial related, business impact, or long-term visionary questions as to where the organization is going will quite often do the trick. As you begin to ask questions that the influencer cannot answer, it opens the door for you to request a meeting with someone who has the answers. As you request a conference call with the decision maker, you need to explain to the influencer why answers to these questions are important.

Write a Letter or Make a Phone Call Directly to
the Decision Maker

Deciding between a letter and a phone call comes down to your judgment. If the red tape is not too thick and you feel confident you can get through to the final decision maker via telephone, make it your top priority. Call switchboard, visit their web site, or contact an assistant and have her direct you to the phone number or extension of the key decision maker.

Prior to picking up the phone, your call goals should be clearly defined.

For example:

• Introduce yourself and your firm; don't be overly wordy.
• Mention that you've been talking to the influencer regarding XYZ, providing a brief history.
• Explain what you know about his and the company’s situation.
• Discuss business impact and business case.
• Explain why you're calling her over the influencer.

If you think you will have difficulty speaking directly to the decision maker via telephone, you may wish to resort to a letter or email. The letter should contain the information in the previous example. Utilize the letter as an opportunity to schedule a follow-up call to discuss the business case outlined in the letter. Your correspondence should be written in business formal format and offer a series of bullet points describing your business case and how you expect to create a business impact. Remember: key decision makers do not have time to read lengthy documents. Keep your information concise and ensure that is well thought out.

Leverage Return On Investment ROI And Value Propositions

Key decision makers are most concerned with return on investment, cost reduction, and value. The more you can rethink your products/services’ alignment with these three decision maker goals, the greater your chance for success. Decision makers most often are looking at the big picture, not just a small resolution.

For instance, an influencer that wants to buy a new tow lift has a need to get pallets moved from one end of the manufacturing facility to the other. And her concern is in how quickly and safely pallets can be moved. The key decision maker is concerned with the same issues. However, they also want to know, “Will the new piece of equipment make us more efficient, cut down on waste, improve efficiency or do we need to evaluate a different means to accomplish this goal?”

Because the key decision maker is most concerned with business impact, as a salesperson, you need to consider how your product/service addresses business impact issues.

As mentioned in last week's article (“The Unknown Decision Maker”), it is critical to get to the key decision maker at the beginning of the sales process. However, it is idealistic to think we will have the key decision maker in every situation. This is why we must be prepared to periodically leapfrog from an influencer to a key decision maker.

Each situation and every account poses different obstacles, which as a salesperson, you must maneuver. Influencers are great people to have on your side, but remember they can be time wasters. You need to be selling and persuading the people that can authorize checks and give ‘yes’ decisions.