Do you know the cast of Characters in your company? If not, please study and look inside your own company to see how this cast of characters goes about making decisions. Sometimes we get frustrated with prospects when they don’t make decisions as fast as we would like, but one of the key steps in a sales process is actually learning the decision making process. Notice that I didn’t say the decision maker….because there isn’t just ONE.
The best way to understand this is to learn about your own decision making process in your own company before understanding the company you are trying to sell….who gets involved, when will they, and what do they want to know?
You’ll need to know the entire cast, which includes these key people:
- Decision Maker: The actual person making the actual decision.
- Decision Influencer: The person who’ll influence the decision maker.
- Champion: The person who’ll go out of their way to get you a meeting with the decision maker and influencer.
- Coach: The person who’ll teach you the details needed to complete your deal.
- Sabateur: The person who’ll ruin your chances. This is likely because they're loyal to your competitor or your services will expose one of their weaknesses.
To see how important the cast of Characters is, examine the cast of characters in your own company first.
-Tom
