By Jeff Beals
Sales professionals searching for insight into prospective clients would be wise to think of themselves as detectives. The more research you do on a client the faster you speed up the sales cycle and the more likely you are to increase transaction size.
As you do your detective work, it eventually becomes clear who the real decision maker is and who the primary and secondary influencers are.
More than anything, it is important to determine the true decision maker, the person who has veto power and whose signature seals the deal. But almost important is determining who the key influencers are.
No matter how independent and self-confident a decision-maker may be, that person usually has valued and trusted advisers whispering in his or her ear. We need to know who those influencers are and get to them as early in the process as possible.
Some sales detectives prefer the direct approach and ask questions such as:
“Who is the most influential person helping you make this decision?”
“Whose advice and counsel will be most valuable to you as you make your decision?”
Other sales pros are more subtle, but once you identify the key influencers, you need to build a trusting relationship with them too.
Sometimes a prospect will be vague and non-committal when asked to name influencers. A mid-level person might not want to give up control or admit that he or she lacks decision-making power. Such a person could also be protecting c-suite executives from interruptions.
Some prospects worry that disclosing influencer names will cause the sales process to grow deeper before they are ready. When you’re having trouble drawing information out of a prospect, be patiently persistent. Keep asking, digging and researching. You can also look at precedent…What kind of influencers did similar prospects in the past have?
A word of warning: be careful of false influencers. There are those people who get some sort of psychological payoff pretending to have influence over the buying process. Do your homework. Don’t jump to conclusions until you have performed thorough due diligence on the prospective client. A little extra work will increase your closing ratio!
Jeff Beals shows you how to find better prospects, close more deals and capture greater market share. Jeff is an international award-winning author, sought-after keynote speaker, and accomplished sales consultant. A frequent media guest, Jeff has been featured in Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Men’s Health, Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.”
Here’s Why Should You Choose Jeff Beals as Your Next Speaker:
“Jeff Beals has presented four different topics at five of our internal events in 2016. At each event, the audience of commercial real estate principals and agents was completely engaged and motivated the entire time. Jeff facilitates his training sessions in such a way that each member of the audience was able to relate and understand how to apply it every day in the field. Jeff is brilliant, and we have hired him to continue speaking at our events in 2017!” – Lindsay Fierro, Senior Vice President, NAI Global, New York, NY
“Your workshop was a huge experience for our attendees by giving them the opportunity to improve their work in the critical environment in which we are living today. Your talent as a speaker and your qualities as a person made the difference during your time with us. I would certainly recommend you to anyone who asks.” – Ana Paula Costa, Educational Planner, Febracorp, Sao Paulo, Brazil
I’m in Phoenix and had breakfast earlier this morning with our semi-retired sales representative who is doing some continued work for us here. He attended your sales meeting last week and told me that in 43 years of selling, you were the best he had ever heard. Thanks for a great experience.” – Drew Vogel, President & CEO, Diamond Vogel Paints, Orange City, IA
“Our corporate partnership team had great takeaways regarding how to network smarter while also understanding the importance of our personal brand to current and prospective partners. Jeff does a great job weaving in real-world examples and how you can apply his teachings to growing your business and building long-term partnerships.” – Jason Booker, Senior Director of Corporate Sponsorships, The Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball Team
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