Simple Strategies For Salespeople Finding Key Decision Makers

Every salesperson understands the pain represented by the key decision maker. Decision makers are guarded by gates, the gates are guarded by keepers and there are many obstacles that lie in between.

Wasting valuable time being led down a rabbit hole by the wrong person can mean the difference between smashing your sales target and falling far behind. Here, we’ll show you some great strategies to ensure you’re speaking with the person calling the shots. First, let’s consider the problem at hand.

Be Aware of Potential Pitfalls

We all know the potential difficulties, but there are a couple that salespeople should be especially cautious of. The main lesson here is to consider the motivations of the people you speak to.

The first is the bored employee. Difficult as it is to believe, some people don’t have much work to do in their jobs and actually find time to get bored as hell. Present them with a hungry salesperson, and all of a sudden they’ve got something to kill that time. This person will stay on the phone and show interest to keep you engaged in the conversation. The truth of the matter? They have absolutely no decision-making power.

Key takeaway: Be cautious of people who show real enthusiasm but have potentially low status on the company hierarchy.

Be aware, too, that not everyone takes a meeting because they intend to buy. Some people will overstate their role, or agree to a follow-up, for reasons that have nothing to do with the purchase. Enthusiasm is not authority, and a booked meeting is not a qualified one.

Key takeaway: Trust your read on whether someone is a real buyer, and confirm their role before you invest more time in the opportunity.

3 Simple Strategies to Reach The Key Decision Maker

1. Scout Ahead on LinkedIn

If you’re a salesperson and you don’t have a LinkedIn account, stop reading this article right now. Head over to our Linkedin Profile Checklist then to LinkedIn.com, create an account, spend some time setting it up and start taking your job more seriously. Afterwards, scout for known associates, vendors, names and job positions, common contacts and anything else that’s relevant.

2. About Us or Company History

This one works especially well for smaller organizations. Head over to the website and check out the ‘about us’ page or ‘history’ page for the story of how the company was founded and who the company owners are. It takes 10 seconds and can save you hours of wasted time.

3. Advanced Google Searches

If you punch a given first and last name into Google, you’ll get all kinds of results. Luckily, you can refine the search down like this. Search for [“first name, last name” city name]. You want to use the inverted commas either side of the name. For example:

“John Smith” Nashville

This pulls up a range of specific information that belongs to your target prospect’s name in the right city. They might say one thing on their LinkedIn profile, but other social media and Internet footprints could tell a different story.

A Final Point on Preventing Fraud

Identifying the key decision maker accurately can also help prevent fraud. We once had a situation in a phone shop where a local security company representative built a relationship with a salesperson over a couple of weeks, discussing the contract in detail.

The salesperson was fired up about the $40k commission on offer by selling 100 handsets and a subsequent order of 80 handsets. After some time, he diligently made a follow-up call, only to discover the security company had never even heard of the employee.

The following day, we had the FBI in the shop asking all kinds of questions and trying to get to the bottom of why some guy was selling his newly acquired telephone handsets door-to-door on the street.

Bottom Line: Always spend 10 minutes doing your research. You’ll save yourself endless hours of potential trouble later on.