Business sales are a convoluted but exciting process that involves interacting with multiple contacts before a deal is closed. Not all of them will adhere to the same position, so you have to work actively to lure those in charge to your side. And the most important step on the way to successful sales is identifying the decision-maker. Today’s reality is that it is no longer enough to search for leads by job title. Instead of spending a ton of time with someone who has no influence on completing the sales, you can focus on digital lead generation to benefit your company. This information will also help to determine effective and time-saving steps. That’s why in this article we will cover such important aspects as:
- Who the decision-maker is;
- Steps to improve your B2B sales experience;
- A solid approach to making your search even more effective;
- Best B2B lead generation software to find the right person.
What Is a Decision-Maker?
Typically, in a B2B business, the decision-maker is a person who is eligible to make strategic selections about investments, company expansions, and acquisitions. However, in practice, your representatives have to communicate with the entire decision-making unit (DMU). The deal will be successful if they convince every person in the department about the purchase value. The number of people you have to influence depends a lot on the size of the company you’re negotiating with and its industry. Also, not everyone involved in the sale will make the decision, but they can significantly affect the speeding up or slowing down of the buying process.
Steps to Identify the Right B2B Decision-Maker
This process can be quite complex since you have to deal with several executives. There is no universal approach to quickly identifying all decision-makers. But there are several essential steps that you can take to make your sales more productive and close the deals faster.
#1 Define the Lead’s Purchasing Process
You need to find out as much information as possible about the company you intend to deal with, paying particular attention to their buying process. You also need to determine how valuable your offer is and what pain points of a potential client it can solve.
Depending on the benefits of your proposal and the value of the product, you can determine who will be responsible for the decision. For example, you are a furniture supplier. Then your product has a low strategic value. Accordingly, either the purchasing department (if the potential client is a large company) or the head of the department (if you are selling to a smaller business) will be qualified for making the decision. But if you offer enterprise software, then the value of your proposal is more crucial. In this case, the decision to purchase may depend on higher-ranking individuals.
The cost of your proposal also influences the choice of the decision-maker. The larger the budget, the higher the rank the responsible person will be. It also makes the purchase cycle more complicated.
But sometimes, your proposal’s benefits define the right contact person or who is involved in outside sales. You may also need to learn this from the information on the company’s website or from its news feed. In any case, the detailed information you gathered will make your sales process more efficient.
#2 Take Care of a Decision-Making Persona
Once you have decided on a prospect’s buying cycle, you will need to know who will participate in them. If several performers are doing this in a company, you should find out about all of them. Before contacting the company, prepare a description of such specialists’ images: what exactly they do and the possible level of their qualifications. In the future, this will help narrow your search. Here are some other parameters that you might find useful:
- Position. This is usually a managerial position. Depending on the company’s size, the person making the decision will be a CTO, CMO, Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, Chief Executive, Director, or Vice President.
- Budget management. Whether this person can make purchasing decisions within the company or their department.
- Working with company strategy. Managers involved in strategic planning quite often can also influence the acquisition process. As long as they find solutions to overcome the company’s problems, they can also do so through the partnership with third-party vendors.
#3 Use LinkedIn to Identify the Right Person
It is a good lead generation website. LinkedIn contains professional pages of specialists from almost all over the world. Here you can organize a search by position or within one company, collecting the necessary information about the person you need.
All information search should be aimed at giving you clear ideas about who in the company can be responsible for making decisions. This can take a very long time, but in the end, it will improve the quality of the dealing process. This is especially true for long-term projects.
#4 Find Valuable Influencers
The next step you need to take is to find important representatives of the corporate culture. Look for the people who do not directly make decisions but can influence this process. They can make your B2B lead generation more productive.
#5 Connect with an Associated Gatekeeper
Most managers and executives hire assistants to handle large volumes of tasks. Such assistants are called gatekeepers. And in many cases, you will not be able to reach the decision-maker without the help of a gatekeeper. They process incoming requests and pass on the most interesting ones to their manager. Therefore, you should keep your primary focus on these professionals. Build trusted relationships with gatekeepers to make a reliable and productive cooperation. Ultimately, these people can connect with the right decision-making person and even help you close the deal.
#6 Qualifying Sales Leads
Once you have the contact details of potential customers, it’s time to determine if they can be part of your successful sales process. Assess potential buyers according to their willingness and ability to become your client. It has three main aspects: evaluating the lead’s need for your product, having decision-making authority, and meeting the budget.
But the focus of your interview should cover such topics as determining the company’s budget and the people who are also involved in the buying process. Ask if the company has had experience in purchasing similar kinds of goods or services. In general, qualifying sales leads models have long been known, and you can adapt many of the popular approaches for the needs of your company.
Use B2B Lead Generation Software
Quite often, you will come across a situation where you have found the potentially right decision-maker, but their contact details are nowhere to be found. You can spend a lot of time collecting additional information or waiting for them to answer via Linkedin. Alternatively, you can use automated tools to save time and move further towards your goals.
There are different types of B2B lead generation software that can also help you get the contact details of the person you need. Some of them even offer notifications and calling capabilities. This makes the sales process even easier and more accessible. The most popular of these applications are Hunter, Voila Norbert, Prospect, ZoomInfo, and Clearbit Connect.
Build a Solid Framework to Accelerate Your Research
When you are faced with the process of identifying a decision-maker, you may realize that they operate in a complex internal grid and it can be complicated for you to reach them. Understanding the internal structure and hierarchy is an important aspect for making successful deals.
This suggests that quality and in-depth research is of the highest priority. You should segment your audience and identify the most suitable customers. Use your team to speed up closing deals. Establishing an appropriate research department is an excellent decision that will bear significant results in the future. Also, connect with an account manager to expedite the sales process.
Final Thoughts
The process of finding a decision-maker is similar to fishing. You should use the proper tools and techniques to find the right person. While this is a tricky means, the correct approach can greatly simplify your efforts. Partnering with a professional B2B digital marketing agency can benefit your business. It is an opportunity to work with a seasoned team to achieve the best results. Belkins’ experts create top-notch lead generation strategies and have entire research departments to quickly identify the decision-maker. They have helped more than 400 clients achieve strategic business goals and take their sales to the next level.
The post Boost Your B2B Sales Experience by Identifying the Decision-Making Person appeared first on Home Business Magazine.
source https://homebusinessmag.com/sales/closing-sales/boost-b2b-sales-experience-identifying-decision-making-person/
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