One of the steps in your sales process should be the uncovering of your prospect's decision making process. In the Sandler Submarine, that comes right after uncovering the budget and right before you do any presentation.
But it's easy to miss one big aspect of your prospect's decision making process!
There are six elements to every organization's decision making process:
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
- How
As a salesperson, it's your job to uncover the answer to each of those questions. However, it's very easy to miss the mark on one of those.
Often, the "who" is not just one person, it's an entire cast of characters!
Let's look at roofing as an example. One of our clients has been in the roofing industry for decades. As we've worked together over the years, I've helped him understand that a $100,000 residential roofing job is very different than a $100,000 roofing job for a church.
And it's all about the "who" in the decision making process being multiple people!
It doesn't matter that the price of the ticket is the same, it ends up being a completely different decision process.
And that can still be the case even in a residential job for my client. There may still be a primary decision maker, but there are still multiple other people that have varying influence over the decision making process.
If my roofing client has been primarily talking with the husband, but one of his employees accidentally offends the wife, do you think she can get them pulled off the job?
Of course!
Sometimes a cast of characters is more apparent, like when you're dealing with a board or a committee. Other times, it's less apparent. Regardless, very seldom is it black and white.
But as the salesperson, it's your job to dig in and not take anything at face value.
