How to Identify Major Influencers | Professional Selling Skills | Sales Training Middle East
Identifying the major decision influencers is a crucial step in the selling process. Develop your prowess in the group dynamics of complex decision making and you will be the all-star of new business development in your company.
There are many identifiable decision influencers in a business. They include the executive, the user, the outsider, and the deal killer.
The Executive
The executive influencer is the person with the most power in the decision to engage you. This person has “big YES” authority. “Big YES” authority means that this person listens to all the recommendations from others and makes the final decision to hire you. The larger the financial commitment to hire you, the more likely it is that strong power resides in a top executive. When small dollars and limited services are involved, executive power can reside in the user. If you do not obtain an audience with the executive decision influencer, your chances of making the sale diminish rapidly.
The User
The user is the person in your prospect’s businesses who will interact with you and most frequently use your services directly. In-house counsel, corporate controllers, and risk managers are a few of the possible users.
Since the user is going to be interacting with you the most and it’s to the business’s benefit that the user get along with you and feel comfortable with you, the other influencers often give a good deal of weight to the user’s recommendation. However, others on the team may be hiring you to supplement the skills of the user or to help outplace and hire a new user. The user influencer will almost always have “big NO” authority and “little yes” authority.
The Outsider
Most companies have several outsiders that influence any decision to engage a major professional firm. Investment bankers, commercial bankers, surety bonding agents, outside board members, family members, and other professionals are some.
Outsiders usually have “big NO” authority. In many cases, the outsider can be a strong “YES” influence on the executive influencer when referring you into the opportunity.
The Deal Killer
In every organization, there lurks a person who has “big NO” authority. That person evaluates you or your firm on a set of technical standards and says to the others that you pass or fail. This person’s sole job is to screen out the professionals who do not measure up. You must identify this person and learn about the set of standards he or she has set.
