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Gaining Access to Power in a Buyer's Organization

Guest post by: Greg van der Linde

Article Overview: Executive Summary: Sell to people with buying authority. Sales reps must understand the level of buying authority their contacts have within buying organizations. Reps must gain access to true power, and sell to buyers that have the ability to authorize transactions and close deals.

Gaining Access to Power in a Buyer's Organization

Know Who Your Contacts Are

Sales reps must gain access to power. One of the biggest mistakes that reps make during the sales process is spending too much time trying to sell to individuals that do not have the authority to buy. Sales reps often forget to clarify this very important piece of information with their initial contact in the organization. They fail to do this because often, there is the initial excitement of gaining a contact in the company, and reps do not want to strain or break the current relationship. Reps need to overcome any barriers that exist and understand who the key stakeholders and decision makers are if they want to make headway.

To get the sales process started, sales reps must:

• Gain Access to Power
• Determine the Ability to Buy
• Sell to Someone Who Can Buy

Gain Access to Power

Gaining access to power has a major impact on the ability of sales reps to build momentum for a sales opportunity. One of the key pieces of information often overlooked early on in the sales process is the level of influence held by the initial contact. Determining whether or not the initial contact has buying power (or is an authority) will significantly alter a rep's approach to the opportunity. If the contact does have buying power, then the rep can then categorize them appropriately, and move forward accordingly in the buyer engagement process.

When faced with contacts that do not have purchasing authority, reps should then identify the position they hold, and how they fit into the buying process. Two broad categories for contacts of this nature include:

• Assets
• Influencers

It is essential that reps take the appropriate amount of time to determine where the contact fits within the buying organization and how they may be of assistance during the purchase process. Never disregard a contact. In most cases, sales reps can use them as a resource, referral, coach, or sponsor during the sales process. Reps must remember that they must be friendly and amicable with everyone in the company, regardless of whether or not they have buying authority. Everyone has an opinion; bad opinions can dampen a sale, even if the individual holding the opinion is not a key decision maker.

Gaining access to power is usually a negotiation with buyers or influences from within an organization. Preparation and pre-call planning is absolutely important, especially when an appointment has been established with a purchasing authority. Often business objectives and desired outcomes are easier to find out prior to a meeting than desired value. Personal value often comes after trust is built. Therefore, preparation for these meeting is crucial. Reps must effectively prepare by exhausting all research avenues (internet, company resources, etc.), and reviewing everything that has been discussed to this point in the sales process (CRM, etc.).

Determining the Ability to Buy

Determining a contact's ability to buy can be tricky. As part of their buying strategy, contacts will not easily admit their ability (or lack thereof) to consent to closing a deal. Sales reps must also be aware that first contacts sometimes serve as a filter to buying companies. Reps need to be mindful of this, and focus on their contact's purchasing abilities. This can be accomplished through the following:

• Create engagement: Engage the contact and sell them on the ideal solution that has been created. Listen to the information they offer. See how the contact reacts and pay particular attention to their initiative, and if they appear to be interested in the solution being offered.
• Determining Involvement: Find out who else is involved in the specific decisions made during the sales process. A sales rep's ability to uncover who is affected enables them to narrow down who has final authority on a deal.
• Action steps: Ask about next steps going forward in order to determine buying ability. If the contact has purchasing power they will be comfortable discussing moving the sale to the next step in the process.
• Ask for commitment: If a contact does not have buying power they cannot commit. Contacts, if they are interested in the solution, will shift their role and begin to act as a sponsor to promote the reps solution within their organization.

Sell to Someone Who Can Buy

A contact is not enough. Sales reps cannot sell to someone who does not have the authority to buy. Reps must not waste time and resources selling blindly, and therefore must sell to someone that can either be an asset, influencer, or purchasing authority. There are three key selling components reps should understand when identifying the purchasing capabilities of a contact:

1. Their role in the buying process: Reps must do some research to understand who they are selling to. If the contact cannot make buying decision, reps need to evaluate their role in the organization, and think about how they can be leveraged to gain access to key stakeholders such as:

• Assets
• Influencers
• Authorities

Do not be complacent. Get to the buyers needed to make decisions on what is being sold. Commodity type items require less authority, while more strategic decisions tend to involve a larger decision making unit. Find the ideal buyer, get to them quickly, and have them profiled.

2. Avoid the rep trap: Reps should also avoid thinking they have to sell to the top. Doing so will involve buying consensus and triangulation, making selling a more complex process. There are different signing authorities. Different items require different authority/ power buyers to be involved. Do not get too complicated. Find the appropriate buyer and get the deal done.

3. The different types of value:Sell to the value required; do not just assume that everyone is the same, and is searching for the same form of value. No deal is ever done without there being some sort of personal value, or personal benefit, to the person. However, it is not just the personal value that counts; the business values, objectives, needs, and wants also needs to be met. A sales rep can only show value if they have received confirmation from the buyer that this is the correct form of value they are searching for. If the buyer has not confirmed this, the sales rep has not asked the necessary questions to uncover:

o Personal Value: Display how the solution will personally affect the contacts job

o Business Value: Show how the solution is ideal to improve the buyer's efficiency, effective, customer service, etc.

o Business Objectives: Show how the proposed solution is in line with the buying organizations goals and objectives

Bottom Line & Business Impact

As sales reps hone their skills, and make finding out who the true buying authority is and the level of influence they have as a best practice, they will be able to quickly get to the right people and generate real results. Therefore, much wasted time will be avoided.

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Article Tags: business value, buying organizations, closing, creating a strategic action plan, decision makers, gaining access to power, key stakeholders, know your buyer, personal value, prospecting, prospects, purchasing authority, situation analysis



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