Getting to the Decision Maker: How to Set Your Sales Team up for Success
For most of the salespeople out there the most difficult part of their job is not closing business but developing a relationship with the right people. That’s what makes the inside sales role so important.
We talk a lot here at demandDrive about best practices around qualifying inbound leads and penetrating target accounts, and we find that the most valuable contribution we provide our clients is delivering the right audience.
We have found that 70% of the leads we’ve qualified and delivered to our cleint’s sales team are not on our initial contact list. If you don’t make efforts to identify the actual decision makers in a company your going to miss a lot of opportunities and waste a lot of sales resources.
Getting the Lead
Many of the leads generated through an inbound marketing channel will not be a decision maker. In fact, they’ll be far from it. Often the people who fill out web forms, or download a webinar are completing tasks delegated to them from higher up in the organization.
When a sales rep follows up on these leads, it’s important that they take an “account” approach instead of a “lead” approach. If you can’t reach your initial contact or they provide little insight into their needs of their organization, don’t stop there. Do a little research and pull in some relevant contacts at a higher level in the organization.
Mapping the Account
I’ve spoken before about the importance of mapping the account. The company you are targeting will have multiple departments and decision makers that will all influence your sale. You want your sales team to have a complete understanding of the organization before they start communicating with them.
If you’ve been on the phone with a large company you probably know the horrible feeling of being passed from department to department looking for the right contact or the right answer to your question. This can be frustrating, or it can be a great opportunity to learn about the company. Taking note of which departments you are being sent through gives you an idea of who will make the most use of your service. You can also pick up small bits of information along the way as you talk to various people. This is a great way to understand the organization and how information and decisions flow through it.
Getting the Name
There are 3 strategies for getting the name of the decision maker.
1. Referrals
The best way to get information on the decision maker is to get a referral. Whether it’s an internal or external referral there are many ways to seek one out.
Internal Referral- Using the contacts you already have within the company you can request the information about the decision maker. Treat receptionists and other employees personably and they will want to help you more. Instead of just blowing by everyone in the organization who isn’t the decision maker you can use their insights to learn more about the company and hopefully find the name.
External Referral- Someone outside of your target company may be more willing to offer you contact information. Approaching former employees for referrals is a useful tactic because they usually don’t mind giving out information they are no longer responsible for.
2. Lead Services
There are several great lead services that can use low-level leads to find decision makers. Rainking is a useful company that creates IT organization charts of your target companies. These lists even include why the contacts would be the most likely decision makers; valuable information for your sales team.
“If you’re not turning low-level leads into conversations with higher-level contacts you’re wasting time and money.” Austin Wells, Rainking.
3. Social Media
Social media has emerged as an excellent tool for lead generation. Search LinkedIn to find decision makers within companies. Use twitter to ask the company directly who you should contact.
Monitor a company’s blog and trade publications to find influencers. The authors in publications will often be influential decision makers in the company and the article will usually give their title.
There are hundreds of techniques that lead generation and salespeople have used over the years to find the decision maker. These are some strategies that work for us. I hope you find useful in your search.
