“Stop obsessing over the decision maker.”
So says Aaron Ross of Sales Machine.com. According to Ross, the decision making process is now more important than the decision maker. While collaborative decision making involving different people and teams approving a purchase has always been an important element of B2B sales, it is now the rule at most organizations.
Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research, takes this concept a step further, and advises technology sellers to re-think their prospecting targets. “Technology decisions, including purchasing decisions, are being taken out of the hands of CIOs and handled instead by line-of-business managers,” he tells Information Week. This means that successful prospecting includes identifying all potential members in the network of decision makers and creating a variety of offers to appeal to the various players.
A recent study released by the Direct Marketing Association, The B-To-B Sphere of Influence: Best Practices in Reaching the Right Person, confirms this approach. The study shows that 60% of marketers rely on prospect titles or reports from the sales force to tailor their messaging and value propositions to each recipient.
Of course, all of this doesn’t mean prospectors should ignore the “decision maker” entirely, cautions Ross. “You do want to build a relationship with the decision makers early, but don’t ‘sell’ them until you’ve begun winning over the influencers.”
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