A decision maker in a sales process is the person who has the power to have the final say on whether you make the sale, or not.
That’s why, to excel in sales, you need to establish who the decision maker is and determine what they need.
Only then can you provide them with a solution that paints a better picture of their future business.
In sales we often think about how to sell, but to be a great salesperson, we need to understand why people buy.
Understanding the perspective of a decision maker will allow you to shape your sales pitch accordingly and increase your chances of making the sale.
Here, we will go through this process step by step to give you a tactic you can use to influence your prospects and close more sales.
How to Find the Right Decision Maker
I wonder if this will sound familiar to you.
You make an excellent sales pitch. You deliver it in style, oozing with confidence, authority and a touch of panache.
The prospect is spellbound, hanging on your every word.
You go in for the close, ready to seal the deal, but hear the following, soul crushing phrase:
“I’ll have to run it by my manager first.”
You can save time, resources and energy by ensuring you are dealing with a decision maker in the sales process.
Here’s how to do it:
1) Analyse your service
Make sure your service or product is solving a problem.
If you can’t articulate how your contribution is clearly going to add value, you aren’t ready to speak to decision makers.
That’s because decision makers are typically working at a strategic level, which means you should be thinking about how your service enhances wants and needs that will help them with their strategy.
To do this, you must change your focus away from what your service does and how it does it.
Instead, put yourself in the decision maker’s shoes and consider how you would tangibly benefit from your product if you were them.
2) Do your research
Start by creating an ideal decision maker profile.
What job title are you targeting?
What industry?
Is the sector currently facing any challenges as a whole you can solve?
How long has the target been working at the company for?
Do they have an assistant you could contact to form a mutual connection?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is great for finding this information, and can save you a great deal of time when it comes to narrowing in on decision makers.
3) Ask qualifying questions
Salespeople often have to play detective in order to save time and cut to the chase.
Once you’ve made the first form of contact, it’s time to ask qualifying questions to uncover the answers you need.
The point in these questions is to turn a cold prospect into a warm one by ascertaining if they possess the authority to make the final decision.
There is an art to this process, as you don’t want to come across too salesy or you may risk putting the prospect off.
Next time you’re on the phone to a prospect, try using these qualifying questions:
“Has your company ever used a service like this before?”
“Before we continue, is there anyone else you would need to involve in this process?”
“How does your team usually make purchasing decisions?”
“How can I help you present this to your boss?”
“Who is the best person to speak to regarding this decision?”
How to Determine Your Prospect’s Needs
Once we know who the decision maker is, we now need to know what they want, what they need and how they are likely to think.
To address this, let’s use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a starting point.
According to Abraham Maslow, people have five ‘levels’ of needs:
- Physiological
- Security
- Social
- Esteem
- Self-Actualisation
Start by asking yourself this:
What needs are being fulfilled by your product or service?
This is a hugely important step to defining what messaging you will use to sell.
A business that is satisfying a physiological need (such as selling food) will have a drastically different approach than one dealing with esteem (such as an awards event).
By pairing your ideal buyer persona with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you can add insight into your prospects psyche in a way that’s impossible with metrics alone.
‘Why Now?’
Another thing to consider is your prospect’s situation.
Before a purchase is made, there is typically a triggering event which creates the need.
For example, if a company has just secured funding, they will be much more likely to invest in new technology.
That’s why timing is so crucial.
In fact, according to Markempa, reaching out to prospects based on trigger events can increase your conversion rate by 400%.
A way of understanding your ideal customer profile’s needs is to ask your existing customers what factors made them interested in your services.
If you can establish the answer to ‘why now?’, you can understand your prospect’s motivations and eliminate wasted time in your sales cycle.
How to Sell to a Decision Maker
Once you’ve addressed the decision maker’s needs, it’s time to pose the solution.
This is where your messaging becomes incredibly important.
In order to pose a solution, you must first show the decision maker that you understand their problem.
Let’s look at an example.
If you are selling a cyber security service, it’s clear that you are selling the concept of your prospect being safe.
You can show the prospect that you understand all of the dangers of hacking, including the financial and emotional implications if it were to happen.
You then show the decision maker that you have the solution to this problem to keep their business secure.
Then you articulate how this will save them stress, worry, time and resources when things go wrong, painting a picture of how their business will look like with you providing this value.
Different Characteristics of a Decision Maker
A Harvard business review study outlines five different types of decision makers by their personality traits, and how you should sell to each one.
To paraphrase from the study, here are some quickfire tips to help you sell to each of them:
1) Charismatics
Balance their charisma with analytical discussion and be open about risks to establish trust.
2) Thinkers
Provide them with all the information they need, but allow them to come to their own conclusions.
3) Sceptics
Try and establish common ground. Understand and acknowledge why they may be sceptical in order to establish trust.
4) Followers
Use testimonials to showcase how the competition or their peers are using your service. Create a fear of missing out.
5) Controllers
They may be more closed to the emotional sell, so use logic and metrics to get your point across. Don’t rush the close, give them time to come to the decision themselves.
Start Closing More Sales
Putting in the extra effort to understand how decision makers think can be the catalyst for real growth for your business.
Ultimately, building a buyer persona profile and understanding which needs your service addresses will set you apart from the competition.
Next, it’s time to put it into practice to start closing more sales.
If you need help with this process, or just want to outsource sales completely, our sales professionals are here to help.
Just like they have done for so many of our clients.
Get in touch today to learn how we can help you turn decision makers into clients.
