Reaching the decision-maker

[Mark T Jones]

So, after 30 years of wondering what the problem was, I'm now handling multiple enquiries where the prospect clearly isn't the decision-maker.

In my case, the decision-maker is nearly always the owner/MD, or potentially the FD - these enquiries sometimes come from someone close, eg General Manager or Financial Controller, sometimes from people far away - HR assistant or, in one case, intern.

They are all online enquiries (fairly new to us); another significant factor might be that, since we now focus on fit-outs the project groundwork tends to be passed down to an underling.

Whilst creating the sort of meaningless, generic 'quote' (guestimate) they want isn't time consuming, the simple fact is that the chances of actually getting the business at this level are pretty much zero, so it is mostly a waste of time

So, what I'm really looking for is diplomatic ways of going above the information gatherer and speaking directly to the decision maker?

 

[NickGrogan]

I tend to be direct, it saves a lot of time for everyone involved.

"Are you the decision maker for this project?", "If the price is right, can you give the go ahead?", "Who is managing this project", "Are you responsible for making the decision" and so on.

The other person to look out for is the one that can say no, but can't say yes. Typically found in recruitment/HR and other services - "We have a preferred supplier", etc, these are harder to get round, but a bit of research helps.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thanks Nick. I always like the direct approach, though in most of these cases it isn't even in question - they freely admit they aren't, but they have been delegated the task of gathering information (said information being mostly worthless)

 

[Leo Salazar]

My approach would be to find another way in. You know they're looking; otherwise the information-gatherer wouldn't be asking for a quote.

I like @NickGrogan's approach: directly ask. But this can turn a lot of people off ("What?! I'm not good enough to give a quote to?!"). Besides, if they enquiries are coming in online, there may not be the opportunity to ask questions.

It all depends, of course, on how much time you want to invest in finding the decision maker. I do thorough research before engaging a client, doing my best to find out who is making the ultimate decision before wasting time with an underling.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thanks Leo

It isn't too difficult to find the likely decision-maker (or at least to narrow it down to 2 or 3 names)

Next step - either wholly cold intro, or admit you are circumventing the person they have delegated the task to?

 

[NickGrogan]

In that situation, I ask them who is responsible so that I can follow up on any quotes. If they dont want to give the information, then I might not quote them, depends in the product/project. Some things take a lot of work to quote on and it doesn't make sense to do that for no return.

Depends a lot on the client / project, if its something you want, you can be more flexible. If its look like a waste of time then its better to walk away.

@Leo Salazar it can turn people off, but as most of the people who are turned off by it tend to be those that can't make a decision anyway, its not much of a loss.

@Mark T Jones , follow the same rule, be direct, if you go in "cold" you're lying to the client and that makes a future meeting awkward if the decision maker invites the first contact to come too.

"Hi John, we were approached by Bob about the super project, I thought it would be useful to speak about it directly as there are a lot of complications/issues/benefits that can get lost in translation when someone is comparing offers that appear to be similar."

Ask for a meeting, to quote them directly, for the sale, or whatever it is you want to achieve.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'm inclined to agree Nick.

In reality, it's increasingly a case of don't bother quoting at all, or risk upsetting them by going over their head

This is helpful stuff BTW

 

[Leo Salazar]

it can turn people off, but as most of the people who are turned off by it tend to be those that can't make a decision anyway, its not much of a loss.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I've always conducted business so that each and every person I meet from a company is important and valuable. From the receptionist to the CEO and everyone in between. You never know who's got the ear of the boss, and the last thing you want is to make enemies.

Having said that, I do like your strategy of the cold approach, acknowledging that you are aware that you're circumventing the process.

 

[WebshopMechanic]

There's nothing fun about cold calling and, when you're on the receiving end, cold calls can seem like a nuisance unless there is something in it for the person being called.

In any sales situation, you need to earn the right to sell rather than just expect people to open up their wallets.

My advice is to create a sales strategy that reaches the decision-maker in a number of ways.

This may be as follows:

1. Define an acquisition cost per customer. What can you afford to spend to get a customer?
2. Craft a piece of engaging marketing material that highlights the benefits of what you're selling
3. Send it with an interest gift / product
4. Follow it up with a call
5. No answer? Send an email or maybe send a follow-up letter with more value.

Rinse and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Yes, this strategy involves much more effort, time and investment BUT the fact you are going the extra mile to add value makes them far more likely to open up to you.

There is never the right time to call someone so you need to use other channels to get in front of them with being too over-powering.

I know someone who was trying to get hold of the head of a world-renowned hotel chain to sell them toiletries in their rooms. Big contract. She couldn't get hold of him after about 50 attempts.

In the end she posted him a kitchen sink with the comment - "I've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at getting hold of you so here's the kitchen sink as my final attempt".

She landed the deal and ended up selling her business for many millions.

The Lesson:

• You need to be creative.
• You need to invest in your strategy.
• You need to be laser targeted.
• You need to use multiple channels to reach them.

I've also use this strategy with my ecommerce clients. We send 'surprise and delight' gifts to customers who spend the most. The result usually means they come back and spend more because they feel valued.

Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[WebshopMechanic]

There's nothing fun about cold calling and, when you're on the receiving end, cold calls can seem like a nuisance unless there is something in it for the person being called.

In any sales situation, you need to earn the right to sell rather than just expect people to open up their wallets.

My advice is to create a sales strategy that reaches the decision-maker in a number of ways.

This may be as follows:

1. Define an acquisition cost per customer. What can you afford to spend to get a customer?
2. Craft a piece of engaging marketing material that highlights the benefits of what you're selling
3. Send it with an interest gift / product
4. Follow it up with a call
5. No answer? Send an email or maybe send a follow-up letter with more value.

Rinse and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Yes, this strategy involves much more effort, time and investment BUT the fact you are going the extra mile to add value makes them far more likely to open up to you.

There is never the right time to call someone so you need to use other channels to get in front of them with being too over-powering.

I know someone who was trying to get hold of the head of a world-renowned hotel chain to sell them toiletries in their rooms. Big contract. She couldn't get hold of him after about 50 attempts.

In the end she posted him a kitchen sink with the comment - "I've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at getting hold of you so here's the kitchen sink as my final attempt".

She landed the deal and ended up selling her business for many millions.

The Lesson:

• You need to be creative.
• You need to invest in your strategy.
• You need to be laser targeted.
• You need to use multiple channels to reach them.

I've also use this strategy with my ecommerce clients. We send 'surprise and delight' gifts to customers who spend the most. The result usually means they come back and spend more because they feel valued.

Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[Mark T Jones]

@WebshopMechanic Interesting; but not quite sure how it's relevant in the context of my question?

 

[NickGrogan]

I've always conducted business so that each and every person I meet from a company is important and valuable

True, you should be able to do this with offending anyone, occasionally someone won't like it, but they tend not to be that close to anyone's ear.

n the end she posted him a kitchen sink with the comment - "I've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at getting hold of you so here's the kitchen sink as my final attempt".

She landed the deal and ended up selling her business for many millions.

Urban legend? Dents the value of the rest of the advice, which is useful if you're trying to get into a new client, but less relevant in this instance.

If it's true, links would help.

 

[WebshopMechanic]

No urban legend. Her name is Lara Morgan. Look her up. I worked with Lara's for a couple of years.

Apologies, maybe I misunderstood the question.

 

[NickGrogan]

Fair enough, I'd include a link next time, it just sounds too good to be true.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Over the phone during discovery, if I am talking to someone just asking for a quote, I ask questions to find out what I'm quoting on. If they have challenges answering and / or don't care what I'm offering, I then ask to bring a decision-maker in. Occasionally it works and that's when I can genuinely win the business otherwise it's not worth it.

If they are genuinely interested, informed, can be an influencer, then great!

It's a no-brainer for me. I need time in a room to understand the business challenges otherwise I have no idea what I'm doing. Sending over a number with a generic quote is like shooting a machine gun, blindfold. It wastes time, money and if I hit something, it's a miracle. And most of all, it's not why I'm in business.

A generic quote just says 'I'm the same as your existing supplier' with a different number. Not 'I can help your business.'

It's a meeting, conversation or nothing.

 

[NickGrogan]

What about where the decision maker works at a different company?
What do you do in that situation?

 

[The Byre]

Our Number One decision maker is Enzo Greemy.

A long time ago, someone called us and asked to speak to Mr. Greemy. Why they asked for Mr. Greemy must remain a clouded mystery, but the person answering the call told the caller that Mr. Greemy was away from his desk - and we thought no more about it.

Then we started getting more calls from other companies asking to speak to our Mr. Greemy and soon he was the person who dealt with utilities, windows, car hire, computers, shelving and catering equipment. He also became responsible for advertising, website design, SEO, courier services, stationery, mobile telephones, septic tanks, promotional gifts and funeral services.

I gave our mysterious Mr. Greemy a first name - Enzo. When someone wanted to speak to the person responsible for (fill-in stupid and unnecessary goods or services here!) the cry went out for Enzo Greemy - except that Enzo Greemy was always out or on the loo or shopping or had his day off or was on holiday, visiting his estranged family in Scunthorpe.

He even gets calls from investment funds, wanting to speak to him about his pension. Sadly I have to admit that we have done absolutely nothing about poor Mr. Greemy's pension. I fear his retirement will be on bread-and-water!

On one memorable occasion, the caller was told that they had been patched through to the local cathedral. It was on the occasion of Mr. Greemy's funeral, I told the caller. He had died suddenly - shot by his gay lover. At that moment, my dog started whining to be let out for a pee.

"Oh dear!" I told the caller. "His wife is taking his death very badly!"

So if you call us and want to talk to the decision maker - I shall tell you that I have to clear that with Enzo Greemy!

 

[SWHosting]

Getting to the decision maker is a problem that I've encountered on many occasions. Often a buying process involves speaking to someone who has the task of gathering information or may have an idea for a project that they would like to present to the economic buyer.

My approach with these people is to treat them with respect and ask them questions to discover the real opportunity. The key to getting passed up the food chain, in my opinion, is to gain credibility with the researcher and uncover the needs behind the request. Once you have an interest in what they are trying to achieve and timeframes involved, it is time to ask questions that they need to ask the economic buyer or crucially allow you to ask.

I imagine as you work in the finance industry that you have difficult questions to ask the business about their income, outgoings, the capacity to pay, etc. If I was in your shoes once, I've built the rapport with the researcher, got the decision-making process, and the people involved I would start hitting them with tough questions.

Maybe these are like: What is your profit forecast for the next 12 months? What acquisition strategy do you have? When are you planning on an exit from the business? How much is your rent and rates at the moment?

The important thing in my process is to ask questions that have to be answered by the decision maker. If you are dealing with a genuine enquiry, the person you are speaking to is much more likely to want to get the answers right and put you in touch with the person who holds the answers because of the risk involved. If they aren't interested in anything but a price after taking this approach, then I would bin them off as a tyre kicker.

 

[MBE2017]

Over the years I developed a rather hard blunt way of finding the decision maker. Basically I would simply ask if the quote I was being asked to give was acceptable, could they place an order there and then, or could they sign the cheque etc, substituting whatever the circumstances required.

I then usually got a much fuller story, of who I required to talk to before anything could be done, even down to numerous board members who would all need to sign off and agree such a purchase. I always tried to jump as high up the chain as possible, whilst keeping the initial contact in the loop, it often helped to have an ally at the company. There is no need to make people feel unimportant if at all possible.

It is time consuming, but the saving grace of such a process I find is the harder it is to gain the initial order, the tougher it is for any competitors to win it in the future.

 

[Clinton]

I've always conducted business so that each and every person I meet from a company is important and valuable.

And rightly so. But the janitor or receptionist shouldn't be the one I waste time with discussing matters they aren't in a position to take decisions on. Life's too short.

In my line of business I need to deal with the business owner. And it's usually the business owner who gets in touch (by email, please. I don't take phone calls). If it's a minion, I take it as an insult ... and I tell them so. I'm quite happy to lose those clients. Those who get the PA to phone around are generally looking for quotes so they can go for the cheapest one. I recommend you don't deal with them!

Our Number One decision maker is Enzo Greemy.

I had an imaginary character like that once. His name was Mr Singh. Mr M.I.Singh. Nobody seemed to get the joke and some sales people even called and asked for Mr Missing!

 

[antropy]

I usually follow the synonym MAN when seeing whether the person is the decision maker. So this follows whether they hold the Money, Authority and the Need. Now if they are all three then great but usually the this is broken down into a number of people. Once you find out who holds each of these key decisions then life becomes a lot easier. Alex

 

[Mark T Jones]

I usually follow the synonym MAN when seeing whether the person is the decision maker. So this follows whether they hold the Money, Authority and the Need. Now if they are all three then great but usually the this is broken down into a number of people. Once you find out who holds each of these key decisions then life becomes a lot easier. Alex

Yes; for me it usually quite clear who the MAN is - and it is typically one person.

Unless the client is Italian - then anything could happen!

 

[Gecko001]

Adverts in trade magazines and other literature which MD's and business owners read?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Adverts in trade magazines and other literature which MD's and business owners read?

Now, what were you always told about reading the question? )

 

[Gecko001]

Now, what were you always told about reading the question? )

In what way did I not answer the question asked in the original post?

And I hope you are having a good morning too!

 

[saythisinstead.co.uk]

Acknowledge their enquiry. Tell them you'll be delighted to quote but that you need a couple of bits of information in order to give the info they want.

NOW.
You need to construct some questions that:
a. Could not possibly be answered by just the enquirer.
b. Use the above fact to gain access to the person who CAN answer.

The questions you come up with will need to be either technical and complex or bring up points that they may not have even considered. The effect of this is that it leads them to believe that you know more about this subject than do your competitors.

You already know that there is no point in just quoting. If you do....and you get the business you might need to look at your pricing.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Acknowledge their enquiry. Tell them you'll be delighted to quote but that you need a couple of bits of information in order to give the info they want.

NOW.
You need to construct some questions that:
a. Could not possibly be answered by just the enquirer.
b. Use the above fact to gain access to the person who CAN answer.

The questions you come up with will need to be either technical and complex or bring up points that they may not have even considered. The effect of this is that it leads them to believe that you know more about this subject than do your competitors.

You already know that there is no point in just quoting. If you do....and you get the business you might need to look at your pricing.

Great points, thank you

I’m re-assessing my approach along these lines.

 

[Herbs]

Very similar to above but i've introduced a conference call with the underling (keeps him happy and feeling important) and the DM (i then get his email/contact number to send calendar invite and dial him into the call) to discuss the finer areas before I can quote.

Any that won't do this, we simply politely decline to quote as it would be impossible based on the information provided saving us a huge amount to time to focus on the ones that will.

Our close rates from the 12 months before we introduced this was 1 in 3 with a DM compared to 1 in 47 without. No doubt we miss a bit of business by working like this but we close far more because of it.

 

[saythisinstead.co.uk]

So, after 30 years of wondering what the problem was, I'm now handling multiple enquiries where the prospect clearly isn't the decision-maker.

In my case, the decision-maker is nearly always the owner/MD, or potentially the FD - these enquiries sometimes come from someone close, eg General Manager or Financial Controller, sometimes from people far away - HR assistant or, in one case, intern.

They are all online enquiries (fairly new to us); another significant factor might be that, since we now focus on fit-outs the project groundwork tends to be passed down to an underling.

Whilst creating the sort of meaningless, generic 'quote' (guestimate) they want isn't time consuming, the simple fact is that the chances of actually getting the business at this level are pretty much zero, so it is mostly a waste of time

So, what I'm really looking for is diplomatic ways of going above the information gatherer and speaking directly to the decision maker?

The best way I know is to ask the person you ARE dealing with, some questions that you KNOW only the decision maker will have the answers to.

You need a bit of flexibility doing it this way, like knowing when to get really direct when the underling starts to fumble.

What happens if you get lucky, is that the decision maker joins in the process and talks to you direct.

 

[The Byre]

The best way I know is to ask the person you ARE dealing with, some questions that you KNOW only the decision maker will have the answers to.

Fat lot of good that would do you with me. I never know anything!

I get these silly questions, such as "Who is your electricity supplier?" or "What software do you use for invoices and accounts?" or some silly question about insurance.

I have no idea! I don't know what software we use, who gets our money for electricity or insurance and (and this is the important part!) I don't want to know! It's not my job to fret over rubbish like that. I am supposed to be the decision-maker and not paperclip and pencil monitor!

 

[saythisinstead.co.uk]

Fat lot of good that would do you with me. I never know anything!

I get these silly questions, such as "Who is your electricity supplier?" or "What software do you use for invoices and accounts?" or some silly question about insurance.

I have no idea! I don't know what software we use, who gets our money for electricity or insurance and (and this is the important part!) I don't want to know! It's not my job to fret over rubbish like that. I am supposed to be the decision-maker and not paperclip and pencil monitor!

My point exactly.

We ask the go between a question that they can't answer...in order to get to the decision maker?

If the decision maker can't answer...but we get to speak to them...job done.

These are INBOUND enquiries made by a go between....not cold calls.

 

[Shaun Murphy]

Get the MD or owner Email and send your personal pitch?, you can use ACT a database program to send another in 2-3 months, it works but takes time getting the data

 

[antropy]

Yes; for me it usually quite clear who the MAN is - and it is typically one person.

Unless the client is Italian - then anything could happen!

Mama Mia

 

[Strent12]

Just do you research, if you're selling something related to marketing then you want the name of the marketing person, even if they're not the key decision maker if still relevant and if you win them over you can off the back of that get the name and an introduction to the key decision maker.

Sometimes you have no choice but to go through gatekeepers.