One of the steps we talk about in the sales process is uncovering your prospect's decision-making process. That includes the who, what, where, when, why, and how.
But that can be a challenge! We have it toward the end of the sales process, partially because your prospect has to trust you in order for them to give you an accurate answer. And they still won't typically give it immediately—you have to dig in a bit.
A while back, I got a call from a salesperson. I always love those because they can make great examples.
About three questions into the conversation, the guy asked me, "Are you the decision maker on things like this?"
Given what I know about uncovering that information, I immediately chuckled. I then responded, "Well, that's an interesting question. Let me ask you a question. Why did you ask me that right now?"
He said, "Well, that's what my boss told me to ask."
I replied, "Congrats on following what your boss suggested. Can I ask a follow-up question?"
"Sure," he said.
"Have you ever had someone tell you 'yes' and later found out they were not actually the decision maker?"
He started laughing. "It happens all the time!"
As we talked more, I actually found out they'd invested in some sales training, and they were taught to ask that question outright fairly early in the process.
If you don't have good bonding and rapport, as well as some trust, that can be an offensive question. Talk about setting someone up to lie to you!
If you want to uncover your prospect's decision-making process—and you should—you shouldn't dig into the decision-making process until after you have bonding and rapport, have really dug into any related pain they're dealing with, and have even talked about budget.
