Who’s on first?

That old Abbott & Costello routine has always made me laugh.
It's pretty easy to find on youtube. Check it out sometime, it is hilarious. And it reminds me of times when I have seen sales reps try and sell to the wrong person. Closing business requires us to deal with the decision maker.

Most time share presentations I have attended require both spouses to attend (should be obvious why). “I’ll have to check with my wife (or husband)” is an easy out. Once I sat through a time share presentation with my wife in Orlando. The salesperson was professional and did a really good job positioning the various time share packages. I asked him what percentage of presentations they close (as I could tell he was one of the top salesman) and he got a smug look and wrote down 30%. If both spouses were not there at the same time, the percentage would be under 5%. So they do a good job of making sure that selling to the right people is not an issue.

I remember it well. The deal was wrapped up and ready to be closed. I did a fantastic job of getting in there, scheduling meetings, developed tremendous rapport, gathered supporting background information, demonstrating my solution, tying it to their needs and goals, handling objections, justifying the cost and showing a gain, identifying the personal wins for the end users, showing how it would improve the workflow, and so on. But I left out one thing. I did not sell to the right people and excluded the executives who actually make these decisions. Even though the employees I was meeting with loved what I had to offer, the decision makers were left out and I was unable to align with them. And I did not win the business.

Common mistakes sales professionals make along these lines:

Letting someone else sell your process : In my story this is exactly what happened. We think we communicate how we can offer benefits to a business and may think that the end user really grasp the value, but you can NEVER allow someone else to sell for you. Important information is always lost in translation. It’s like when I used to sell advertising, I would call and ask for a decision maker to discuss the benefits of the advertising space I was offering. Someone would screen the call and ask what I wanted to talk to them about. Then would muffle the mouthpiece on the phone and ask, “Some guy is calling to sell you advertising, you don’t want any do you?” So I called back when she wasn’t there and sold him a product that would benefit him.

Not reaching up to the proper level: Many times executives give their blessing, get a process going, and then re-engage at the end (especially when money comes up), and that is typical. The problem comes up when we either don’t involve them at the beginning or get them involved when it is time to make a decision. Maybe we are afraid of them saying no, or muddying the waters or complicating the situation. But it is always better to get an idea of where they are at in the beginning, than to exert the effort only to find the company has other priorities that outweigh the benefits of what you offer.

Not identifying what the vision of key decision makers are: When we begin a process, we must understand the direction and corporate initiatives of the business. We must clearly comprehend how they evaluate a vendor and realize how it fits into their decision making process.

Not qualifying in the beginning: Qualify the level of interest and determine what the key business issues are before starting a process. Ask specific questions as to how they would use your product or service, and make sure they are ready to implement what you are selling. You sometimes need to sell against your product or service to gauge the level of interest. Better to find out in the beginning than wait till later.

Not asking who else will be involved in making a decision: In complex situations involving multiple people, multiple solutions, and several individuals on your team helping out; we MUST find out who specifically will be involved in the process and how they are involved and quarterback so everyone is singing from the same sheet of music. Discover who will need to be involved and at what stage.

Doing these simple things will allow you to know who is on first and you will not fumble through a sales process hoping you will earn the business. Being clear on the who, what, when, where, & why will make your life easier and help you focus on prospects genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

Until next time - respect the torch and ignite your passion