Are you selling to the right person?

First a story…. Some time ago, a friend of ours went to eat in a new restaurant somewhere south of Manila. She was with her parents so, of course, her parents were paying the bill and making the orders. Our friend expressed that the food and service of that restaurant were actually good. She even recommended us to eat there. But anyways, her parents were the ones taking the orders and talking with the restaurant manager. So it was obvious that it was her parents who were the main decision makers in this particular scenario.

After the bills were paid and as her parents were talking with some people over the phone, the restaurant manager approached our friend and offered her some of the delicacies and frozen goods of the restaurant. Our friend said she just nodded, told the manager that they will check it out later, and thanked the manager. When they were about to depart from the restaurant, our friend did not tell her parents to check out the delicacies and frozen goods of the restaurant as the manager had told. Instead, they headed the exit.

And there lies a sales lesson: talking with anyone less than the decision-maker is not a good thing. Sometimes, it is even a waste of time for the salesperson. Think of it this way. Imagine you work for a start-up company of less than ten employees. Lets say it’s a construction firm and you are the firm’s only salesperson, the sales and marketing guy. One day, a friend of yours who is selling some hardware for construction companies approaches you and asks you if he can make a sales presentation to your company about their products. Of course, as a friend, you’d probably say yes or that you ask him to give you some marketing collateral and you’ll show it to your boss.

Given that your boss is your boss (I mean hindi mo kamaganak yung boss mo or hindi kayo close), what are the chances that you would actually read those marketing collateral and tell them to your boss? The chances are probably little. Okay, given na your friend is making kulit you about this, you might tell your boss about this or at the least give the marketing collateral to your boss but in this circumstance what are the chances that you would really explain to your boss about their hardware or ask your boss for an appointment with them? The chances are also little.

Given also na you can just refer him to the person in the company responsible for procurement. Lets say you referred him to your colleague who is responsible for procurement or the head engineer of the company. What are the chances that they will look at your friend’s proposal and tell your boss about it?

You’d probably just hand them the marketing collateral and tell your boss about it and its done. No explanation, no sales presentation. And most probably, you just do it so that you can tell to your friend na you’ve already told your boss about it. Compromise kung baga.

To them, if it ain’t broke, no need to fix it. They also already have a working relationship with their current suppliers. So the question remains: what are the chances they will actually “sell” your friend’s hardware to your bosses? My guess? Little chances.

And this does not just apply to B2B. It is also as obvious in B2C.

Just think of it this way. Imagine you and your spouse are planning to buy a brand-new car. Your spouse is the decision maker between the two of you. Your spouse is the one holding the passbook of your bank account which is another way of saying your spouse is the main financer.

One day you are alone walking in a mall when suddenly a car salesman shows up and shows you the car they are selling. Its beautiful, affordable, and looks durable.

The salesman has succeeded in convincing you that this is a good car. So you told the salesman that you will ask your spouse about it.

You go home and tell this to your spouse. Your spouse, for some reason whatsoever, is not convinced or not in the mood to talk about it. Will a decision to buy be made? Probably not. Of course, there might be a chance that your spouse might be intrigued enough to take a look at the car. But in the instance that your spouse is not convinced, no sale would be made.

You’d probably choose the safe path and not force your spouse to say yes. After all the marriage is more important. So what happened to the car salesman? Napa-asa lang sa wala.

And that is the thing: if we talk to anyone less than the decision maker, the probability of a sale being made is decreased. It is not that the person we are talking to has no power or authority, it is just that they cannot make THAT decision. It is not their responsibility to do so.

Breaching that could put them in a position wherein they will have to face some forms of conflict. They could be put at risk.

For an engineer, it could mean being fired by the boss. For the spouse, it could mean marriage conflict. Those are not good.

There are exceptions, of course.

If the company engineer has seen a problem in their work that is costing the company money and he thinks your products could actually resolve it, it is of benefit to them to actually tell it to their boss. Or if the spouse is very considerate of their partner’s point of view, maybe that spouse will actually consider buying that car.

This is also not to say that we should not waste our time talking with non-decision makers. After all, sometimes, they are the only people we have access to in the company or in the couple. Ignoring them will result in us not even making a chance to do something in that company or for that couple.

The idea here is this: we have to gain access to the decision maker. We have to sell our products personally to the decision maker. It is the decision maker who would be giving us the check or cash. They will be the one signing the contract. They are the ones who needs convincing.

This is, of course, easier said than done. There will be lots of gatekeepers keeping you from the main decision-maker. Sometimes, the gatekeepers are the only people we could gain access to. Many times, they won’t allow us to speak directly to the decision makers. In some instances, sila pa nga yung pipigil sa aten.

Anyone less than the decision maker themselves will not sign that contract or give you the money. Only the decision-maker will do that. We have to sell to the decision-makers themselves. We have to talk and present to the decision-maker themselves.

So how? How do we get to these decision-makers if the gatekeepers are not allowing us to get into them? How are we going to present to these decision makers if they are not there???

And that, my friends, will be our topic for next week.

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