Selling to the Right Person

I would guess that at least once in your sales career you’ve been told that you should know your audience in order to sell successfully. This is absolutely true. Knowing who you are selling to is one of the most basic fundamentals of selling. However, exactly what does “knowing your audience” really mean? At the most basic level, this simply means you should strive to find the person, or people, who will directly benefit from your product or service, have decision making authority, and can actually spend the money (i.e., write the check) so you know if you are selling to the right person. Ok, that’s simple enough. But what’s not always simple is finding the person that fits these criteria. Since different people have dissimilar perceptions and interpretations of reality, their decision making abilities vary, which affects how they purchase.

Knowing the title or position your prospect holds in his firm is not enough. You need to also know how he thinks and what his responsibilities include. To learn how he thinks and his true role, you need to ask the right kind of questions and the right questions. The “right kind” of questions means open-ended questions. These are questions that start with Who, What, When, Where, Why or How. By asking these types of questions, your prospect will need to answer with an explanation rather than a simple Yes or No. Open-ended questions will allow your prospect to elaborate and explain details about his problems and what he is trying to achieve. For instance, a closed-ended question could be, “Are you happy with your existing supplier?” The answer may simply be “Yes” or “No” without further explanation, and you will learn very little. If instead you asked, “What is it that you like about your current supplier, and if you don’t mind me asking, what are you not satisfied with your current supplier?” Now you’ll get some valuable information that you can use to determine his actual requirements.

The “right” questions are ones that will help you ascertain more about your prospect, his needs and requirements, and his role in the decision making process. For instance, is he the Recommender? Coach? Buyer? Jerk? Nice Guy? Curious George? Asking the following open-ended question will give you some valuable insights as to his role; “Can you tell me what your decision making process is?” This non-offensive approach will give your prospect the opportunity to explain his specific role as well as who else may be involved. He may say, “Once I decide on the best solution for our company, I will present my findings to my management so they can budget for it.” This answer tells you that, a) he is a recommender and not the decision maker, and b) there is no current budget for this project. Be sure not to put him in an uncomfortable position by directly asking what his role is since he may want to feel more important to the process than he actually is and you may expose his less-authoritative position.

What happens with a lot of sales people is that they tend to judge their prospect by their first impression. This can be detrimental to any relationship you may otherwise have establish by learning more about the prospect. For instance, I once met a president of a networking company who clearly looked like a major nerd (pardon my frankness, but I want you to get an accurate picture). My initial thought was that he was a technician who somehow started his own company and didn’t have a business-savvy bone in his body. However, I still treated him like a business professional with total respect. Good thing I did because, as it turned out, he was the president of a very successful and fairly large network consulting firm and a great connection for my business. Don’t let first impressions and emotions guide your perceptions as to whom you are selling to.

First impressions involve more than simply deciding if this person is a nerd, or if they know what they are talking about, or if they are the right person you should be selling to. Two people could have the exact opposite impressions of someone, and they could both be correct. It’s just a matter of how you perceive someone or something. That perception becomes your reality. For instance, below are names of famous people, places and items. For each one I provided two different descriptions of what they could be in the eyes of the beholder. Which one do you think they are?

• John Wayne – War Hero or Cowboy • Statue of Liberty – Symbol of Freedom or Tourist Attraction • Elvis Presley – Young Entertainer or old, over-weight Singer • Las Vegas – Vacation Spot or Sin City • Watch – Time Piece or Piece of Jewelry • Sistine Chapel – Beautiful Architecture or Beautiful Painting • Trains – Railroads or Transportation Systems Clearly, both descriptions can apply to each of these at the same time. But it’s your individual perception that dictates reality -- the reality in your own mind. When you meet a new prospect and form your own opinion and description of their role and involvement in the sale process, be sure to keep emotion out of the equation and focus on the facts. Learn the facts by asking the right kind of questions and the right questions. From this you will better know your audience and be able to present the right solution to the right person (or people) to help make the sale. Knowing your audience isn’t that difficult, as long as you keep an open mind, ask the right questions, and listen well.

Good luck and good selling!

Russ Lombardo (702) 655-5652

Selling to the Right Person - To learn more about this author, visit Russ Lombardo's Website.

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