Mission Possible
Honing in on the person who makes the buying decisions at a company and establishing a relationship with them is a crucial part of succeeding with a prospect, not only for making the immediate sale, but also for setting them up to be a repeat customer. It may seem like an obvious point, but that doesn't mean it's an easy one. All too often company decision makers will delegate purchasing decisions to subordinates without handing over control of the company wallet. As a result, you're left in a situation where your point of contact is someone who is constantly saying, "Yes, that sounds great, but I have to check with my boss." It's a difficult situation to be in—especially if you're in for a large order and laying out a huge amount of cash or credit to hold inventory on a "maybe."
Thankfully, there are ways to get away from "maybe" for good. With the right questions, some presentations and the forethought to cast a wide net when working with prospects and new clients, and you'll find those purse strings opening up with much less effort and risk involved.
THE RIGHT START
When trying to find the appropriate decision maker for the particular items you're selling, determine which person or department controls which portion of a company's budget. This seemingly easy step is not always as clearly defined as you might expect. As Ryan Sauers, president and owner of Stone Mountain, Georgia-based Sauers Consulting Strategies LLC, explained, the buying chain has changed a bit since 10 to 15 years ago, when there was typically a single procurement person at a company who did all the buying.
"I think in today's world—especially in printing and promotional products—if I was calling on a company, I would probably look for the marketing director or the director of communications, and then figure out where print or promotional products fall," he said.
LEARNING THE BUYING PROCESS
The next step to finding the real buying decision maker is inquiring about their buying or decision-making process. Rosalie Marcus, The Promo Biz Coach, recommended that if your first call or meeting with a prospect is going well, to ask just how the decision-making process works at the company. "I would recommend that somewhere towards the end of the call you say something like, 'Could you please fill me in on the decision-making process at your company? [Is it] one person, multiple people, how are decisions made?'" she suggested.
Marcus continued, "If they tell you that they're not the decision maker, then the next step is to [ask], 'Would it be possible to set up a meeting with you and the decision maker?'"
She explained this meeting may only be with two or three people, or it could be with a whole buying committee. Regardless, Marcus suggested being prepared to make an impression on everyone present. She noted bringing food, fun treats or interesting self-promos to hand out to the meeting's attendees as one option.
BROADENING YOUR CONNECTIONS
Setting up the types of meetings mentioned above is key to establishing yourself with the important decision makers at a company. The trick is to keep your original point of contact (e.g., the marketing manager) feeling fulfilled and important—like he or she is getting the job done and not being passed over for someone with more authority. Sauers explained the thinking, duality and value in this sales practice in greater detail.
"The old school way of selling was that you have a salesperson, and they basically looked at it as, 'This is my account and they rely on me, me, me,'" he said. "And you know, that's great. It's great to have a relationship where a buyer trusts you like that. However, most people don't stay at their buying roles for that long; salespeople often move from company to company.
"For a salesperson to be safe, they're better-suited to have a deeper entrenched value in the company they're talking to. So yes, they want to have a great relationship with that buyer, and you know they're going to want to take them to lunch and do all the stuff they've always done, but one thing that's changed is they really need to know people above them, people below them [and] the people beside them."
Sauers added, "Not to diminish the value of the buyer so to speak, to not have them feel like you're going behind their back, but if that person leaves, then you're not starting over at square one."
Sauers also suggested bringing some of your staff to the meetings—perhaps someone such as a customer service person or another likely point of common contact the client will have with your company.
"That's what I'm getting at, the organization-to-organization nature where you're not so dependent on one person," said Sauers. "Because if that person leaves, ... a new person can come in; they have their own set of biases [and] they have their own power now that they're in charge. They may well stay with you for a while, but trust me, they've maybe used another vendor in the past too, and that vendor's going to have their ear, and you're going to have to go into a panic mode of having to push 'why you,' and that's a pretty bad place to be in."