I typically work with people who want to grow their business or organization. A huge part of that is understanding the cast of characters in the decision-making process.
When you're talking to a customer or prospect, who can say yes? Who can say no? Who has just a little input? Who has veto power?
A few years ago, one of my clients sat down to meet with me. This particular client was working on growing his business. The last time we had sat down together, we had discussed the cast of characters in the decision-making process.
"I'm disappointed," he started off.
"Oh," I responded, "why is that?"
"After we talked last time, I pulled together our management team. Now, you're supposed to know your customers better than your prospects, so we took a look at one of our bigger customers."
He sighed and continued, "It was rather interesting and disappointing. There were four people in the room, and we had four different ideas of what the cast of characters looked like. That's a problem, because this customer is a major portion of our business."
"So what did you learn?" I asked him.
"Unfortunately, we don't know our prospects or customers as well as we should."
Wow! This one customer was a major source of revenue for my client. Do you think it was important that they know who the cast of characters was?
For my client, that exercise was a learning experience. What about you? Take a look at one of your biggest prospects or clients. Who is the decision maker? Who has input? Who has veto power?
Knowing the answers to those questions will influence whether or not you have the ability to grow your organization.
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