How often have you found yourself following up on a sales opportunity feeling confident that you are close to winning the sale, only to hear –
“It’s all looking good. I just need to run it by my boss before we can go ahead..”
OUCH!!! Don't despair. It happens to the best.
The reality is, your point of contact will more than likely have a degree of decision making ability. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have approached them in the first place, right? The issue you are facing now is that they don’t own both aspects of the decision making process... More on this later.
As a sales professional don’t expect the buyer to make your sales process easy or to willingly provide full disclosure on their company’s decision making process. It is up to you to qualify the prospect on their decision making process BEFORE you fully commit to your sales cycle – i.e. send information, proposals, samples etc.. – and invest your valuable time.
Make sense?
Good. Now back to my earlier point on both aspects of the decision making process.
From my experience there are generally 2 aspects or elements to a decision – Business Value and Budget Authority.
Most sales professionals unfortunately assume that if that they sell the prospect on the benefit of their offering that the sale has been won. Reality – your offering will cost money. If your contact sees business value but cannot also approve the level of spend required to buy your offering you are only 50% of the way there – at best.
So what’s the difference between Business Value and Budget Authority and who owns what?
The Business Value aspect of the decision refers to a prospect evaluating how valuable your offering will be to their business. In other words they are assessing the benefits of your pitch or solution relative to their needs, requirements and problems.
So what job titles will normally fit the bill here? Well of course that depends on what your offering is, however, the usual suspects will be departmental heads or line managers that will likely be the “end users” of your offering or will have to implement it. In other words, they are qualified in their company to evaluate whether your offering will add value.
OUCH!!! Don't despair. It happens to the best.
The reality is, your point of contact will more than likely have a degree of decision making ability. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have approached them in the first place, right? The issue you are facing now is that they don’t own both aspects of the decision making process... More on this later.
As a sales professional don’t expect the buyer to make your sales process easy or to willingly provide full disclosure on their company’s decision making process. It is up to you to qualify the prospect on their decision making process BEFORE you fully commit to your sales cycle – i.e. send information, proposals, samples etc.. – and invest your valuable time.
Make sense?
Good. Now back to my earlier point on both aspects of the decision making process.
From my experience there are generally 2 aspects or elements to a decision – Business Value and Budget Authority.
Most sales professionals unfortunately assume that if that they sell the prospect on the benefit of their offering that the sale has been won. Reality – your offering will cost money. If your contact sees business value but cannot also approve the level of spend required to buy your offering you are only 50% of the way there – at best.
So what’s the difference between Business Value and Budget Authority and who owns what?
The Business Value aspect of the decision refers to a prospect evaluating how valuable your offering will be to their business. In other words they are assessing the benefits of your pitch or solution relative to their needs, requirements and problems.
So what job titles will normally fit the bill here? Well of course that depends on what your offering is, however, the usual suspects will be departmental heads or line managers that will likely be the “end users” of your offering or will have to implement it. In other words, they are qualified in their company to evaluate whether your offering will add value.
For example, if you sell recruitment services, the Business Value decision maker could be the Head of Human Resources or in smaller organisations the CEO/ MD. Get the picture?
The Budget Authority aspect of the decision relates to individuals or, in some cases, committees that have the authority to approve a certain level of expenditure within their organisation.
Most organisations will allocate budgets to appropriate departments at the beginning of a fiscal year in order to help the overall organisation achieve its growth, revenue and profit targets whilst keeping an eye on costs. Agreed?
Job titles that have Budget Authority may well be departmental heads if they have been allocated a budget, but will certainly include more senior positions such as the Chief Financial Officer (Finance Director) and Chief Executive Officer (Managing Director).
Let’s put this into practice...
Qualify your client's decision making process:
The Budget Authority aspect of the decision relates to individuals or, in some cases, committees that have the authority to approve a certain level of expenditure within their organisation.
Most organisations will allocate budgets to appropriate departments at the beginning of a fiscal year in order to help the overall organisation achieve its growth, revenue and profit targets whilst keeping an eye on costs. Agreed?
Job titles that have Budget Authority may well be departmental heads if they have been allocated a budget, but will certainly include more senior positions such as the Chief Financial Officer (Finance Director) and Chief Executive Officer (Managing Director).
Let’s put this into practice...
Qualify your client's decision making process:
Does the Department Head have the ability to assess Business Value and have Budget Authority?
Has your prospect used a similar offering to yours in the past?
Is your offering tried and tested?
If not, as a general guide, pitch the CEO/MD of small businesses, Global Heads of the Relevant Business Unit of Mid size businesses and Regional Heads of the Relevant Business Unit of Large businesses. Are you with me?
Better to be referred down and than being referred up after the fact. This is even more relevant during a downturn where every penny spent must and should be justified.
But how do I know if I am speaking to the right person? Simple. Just ASK!
Here’s a useful tip. During the course of your next presentation try the question “..What is the decision making process?” even if you are presenting to a CEO/MD. Not only does it allow you to better qualify if you are speaking to the right person than “Is this your decision?”, it will also give you insight on how well you have engaged the prospect.
So. How well are you and your team qualifying your prospect’s decision making process?
Next time you or your team members come across “... I just need to run it by my boss..” what are you going to do?
No point playing the blame game. Be proactive and seize it as an opportunity to train yourself/team to understand your customer base and how decisions are made within their companies. Chances are similar sized companies within an industry vertical you target will have similar decision making processes. Build your sales process around what you already know and then adapt. Next time you have a meeting with your sales team, why not have a discussion on the decision making process you went through with a sample group of existing customers? You will be amazed at what a little preparation can make to your sales process.
Don’t expect the customer to qualify and sell themselves. That’s your job :)
Better to be referred down and than being referred up after the fact. This is even more relevant during a downturn where every penny spent must and should be justified.
But how do I know if I am speaking to the right person? Simple. Just ASK!
Here’s a useful tip. During the course of your next presentation try the question “..What is the decision making process?” even if you are presenting to a CEO/MD. Not only does it allow you to better qualify if you are speaking to the right person than “Is this your decision?”, it will also give you insight on how well you have engaged the prospect.
So. How well are you and your team qualifying your prospect’s decision making process?
Next time you or your team members come across “... I just need to run it by my boss..” what are you going to do?
No point playing the blame game. Be proactive and seize it as an opportunity to train yourself/team to understand your customer base and how decisions are made within their companies. Chances are similar sized companies within an industry vertical you target will have similar decision making processes. Build your sales process around what you already know and then adapt. Next time you have a meeting with your sales team, why not have a discussion on the decision making process you went through with a sample group of existing customers? You will be amazed at what a little preparation can make to your sales process.
Don’t expect the customer to qualify and sell themselves. That’s your job :)
Take ownership of your sales process and learn from every interaction you have with a customer.
How successful was I at conveying my message. Let me know @ christian@mysalesmentor.co.uk
How successful was I at conveying my message. Let me know @ christian@mysalesmentor.co.uk
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