Social Sales | Identifying the Decision Maker

Properly identifying the decision maker(s) may be the single most important aspect of the sales process. Certainly, this is no different in social sales. Specifically, we are looking for that person who has the …

Money

Otherwise known as the “MAN”. If they don’t have the money, or they are not willing to part with it, you don’t have much of a prospect. If the person you are selling to does not have authority to make a decision about your services, and to authorize the expenditure, you have spent a whole lot of time selling to the wrong person. If they don’t have a need for your services, and this is a legitimate condition, what makes you think that they will invest in these same services? In other words, if you can’t find a “hurt”, there is no amount of salve and bandages that is going to correct that. The topic of this article is “Finding the Decision Maker” and, as this is the most important of the three areas, let’s get started.

There is probably no worse feeling than coming to the end of the sales process only to find out that your prospect is at best an influencer and is not the final decision maker. You will generally uncover this unfortunate condition when this person tells you “Sorry, they turned it down.” Who are “they”!!???

In this article by Sean McPheat, he identifies “The 5 Main Buying Roles”. They are …

The Initiator – the person who decides to start the buying process.
The Influencer – the person who tries to convince others they need the product.
The Decider – the person who makes the final decision to purchase.
The Buyer – the person who is going to write you the check.
The User – the person who ends up using your product, whether he had a say in the buying process or not.

All are important roles, and it is important for us to identify and cater to each but, our goal is to find #3, The Decider. No Decider. No Deal. Read on at Maximize Social Business

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!