Influential People

I'm really not sure why it has taken me so long to get to this topic as it is really important. One of our imperatives is to sell as high up the ladder as we can. However, we also need to know who influences the final decision maker. Wife, administrative assistant, engineer, lawyer etc. Even a competitor can be an influential person to your buyer.

When I was a neophyte, I would work with my boss who was a well respected care-taker of his customers and knew his business. He had bid on a job providing product that he routinely got. Doing his due diligence, he had called to follow-up the quote and found out that he most likely would not get this order.

Grabbing me and some of the product quoted, he exclaimed that "we" needed to go save the order! During the drive of 2 -3 miles to the production facility he explained the facts to me. I believe he was just rehearsing but, who knows. It seems that the price of the product would go higher if this order was lost and we were the closest supplier to this customer. Upon reaching the customer, Wiley - yes that was his name, proceeded to show our customer the price book. If we were unable to purchase in volume, we wouldn't be able to distribute to him at the price he was used to. The customer was interested in the lower price that had been offered and wanted to try a new supplier, "just because". Wiley admitted that he understood but was concerned because without our standard business, emergency orders (nights & weekends) would not be available as it would not profitable to stock it anymore. "Oh, and by the way, here we are with the product. Do you want it or shall we take it back?"

Order earned and purchaser influenced by a salesman. Imagine that!

One of the worst examples of someone not "getting it" as far as the importance of talking with influencers happened to me a few years ago.

I was selling engineered components to a company making high-speed packaging machinery. The customer (A-Z) had engineering in my territory and purchasing elsewhere. As the new design was heading towards culmination, A-Z wanted to audit our manufacturing facilities. The buyer, whom I'd spoken with on the phone, asked me to attend and said that 4 associates would be joining her. The night before the plant tour, my sales manager called and advised that I would not be needed. Suffice it to say that I argued but somehow managed to keep my cool (I think) until we had hung up! When I called the next afternoon to follow-up with my people about the level of success they had, I was stunned. Four company officers had met with the five customers but not one had gotten a single name, much less contact information!! When the sales manager, actually with a fancier title than that, asked me why it mattered, I knew that I had signed on with a company doomed for failure. That man could not see the importance of knowing who the influencers are despite my attempts to persuade. I should have sent him a list of books and high-lighted the appropriate page numbers for his education.

Cover your bases !! You may be talking with the final decision maker and as Wiley did, be able to influence the decision, but DO know who has (and how many have!) the decisions makers' ear and respect.