This week I received this question from Allison who sells a website security solution.
How can I make sure I am targeting the right Decision Makers at the right accounts to sell the largest possible deals?
Allison,
Great question – you nailed what every rep want to know!
Every sales person is told that’s it’s our job to find the Decision Maker at our key accounts and then we’ll be able to close the big deals.
In theory, this sounds logical. But in practice, you might have better luck finding a unicorn.
If you are selling to extremely small businesses ( < 10 employees) then finding the DM could be as easy as a LinkedIn search, scanning the company’s website or even just calling up and asking.
But for midsize and enterprise accounts, it doesn’t usually work that way.
The Ultimate DM might be a C level exec or a VP who controls the budget. But he (or she) is never going to talk to you about website security.
Instead, it works in one of two ways:
- A mid-level manager has a problem. He (or someone on his team) researches options, talks to sales reps and gets budgetary pricing. The he pleads his case to get budget from the financial DM.
- On rare occasions, the highest level DM identifies a problem. He assigns one of his minions to “come back to me with your recommendations for a solution”. This then becomes a project for a Director or Manager who again works with vendors but doesn’t have the ultimate authority.
The Ultimate DM, may never even talk to you. If he does, it will be only at the final hour to negotiate price or terms.
So your job is NOT to target the DM but to instead build relationships with the influencers who are researching solutions and making recommendations.
How To Build Relationships with Influencers
My son Zack provides high-end photography services for architects, developers and art museums.
Over the past 10 years, he’s spoken with many low level employees (interns, administrative support, etc.) at these places. He’ll talk to anyone who works there.
- When they have questions for him, he responds enthusiastically.
- If he can advise them about a project, he does – even if there’s no sales opportunity for him.
- Occasionally, when they are in a jam, he’ll help them out with pro bono service or a significant discount so they can solve their problem.
After a few years of doing this, a funny thing happened. These “low level” employees moved into DM positions at their companies and elsewhere.
If Zack hears about a new development being built or an art museum expanding, he sends an email or makes a call to someone he now knows there and says “I’d really like a shot at your business. Can you help me?”. They usually do.
Even better, a lot of these now DMs reach out to Zack proactively when they need photography services.
By the time it becomes public knowledge who is the right Decision Maker at the right account with the largest deal, it’s usually far too late for you to win the business through cold prospecting.
Occasionally you’ll get lucky and someone will come to you as an Inbound lead or via a referral. I love when this happens!
When it does, here’s what you should do:
- Be super responsive, regardless of his title or any suspicion you have that he might not be the DM.
- Be creative and think beyond your “free trial” and sales pitch. Provide free advice. Discuss ways you’ve seen other companies handle his problem. With technical sales, I’ll often get my solutions engineer on a call to discuss solution architecture – even if the prospect has already chosen a competitor’s product.
- Keep in touch with the prospect. Put him on your personal email list and connect via LinkedIn. Set a reminder to touch base every 6 months or so just to check in.
He’ll remember. It’s likely this will pay off for you down the road.
Good luck and good selling,
Steve