ALL BUSINESS: SEARCHING FOR THE DECISION MAKER: BE BLACK-AND-WHITE
All Business‘ John Mongillo helps you navigate the pretenders to find the real decision makers.
All Business Excerpt:
One of the all-time mortal enemies of the inside salesperson is the non-decision maker: Dr. No-Do. This individual is extremely easy to get on the phone, loves to talk—loves it!—and in the end, after stringing you along like that yo-yo trick “Walking the Dog,” leaves you high and dry—and hopefully po’d. And if you’re not po’d then you can bet there will be more Dr. No-Dos in your immediate future.
After wasting valuable time and eating up your patience, Dr. No-Do will confess that he is not the final decision maker, or–and I think this is worst—you’ll discover on your own that he doesn’t make the call.
You might be thinking: Hey, this is Sales 101. You always ask the prospect if he’s the final call. What’s the big deal here?
The big deal is that a lot of people actually believe they’re the final decision maker, or think they figure in the decision making process. Second, there are many folks who just aren’t straightforward. For example: