Thoughtful Thursdays – Finding the right person to speak to
A sales issue that frequently comes up with people new to sales is finding the right person to talk to. Being able to identifying the right person is a sales skill that develops over a period of time and often takes more than one call.
Today’s thought provides a few sales tips to help find the right person to talk to.
My preferred approach is to ask the first person I talk to if they can help me by providing the name of a person who looks after what I would like to talk about. When I worked in the chemical industry that person would typically be the purchasing manager or agent. It was pretty cut and dry.
There are instances where your prospect is part of a national or global organization and the person who purchases what you are offering works within guidelines established at corporate headquarters. They may not be in a position to decide on a supplier, but they are the right person to talk to at this point. They will be able to tell the protocol for becoming a supplier.
Planning and forethought is beneficial when approaching a prospect where you are not sure who the right person is. Who are your products/services primarily helping? Is it manufacturing, maintenance, marketing, sales, operations, finance? This speaks to the sales skill that develops over time.
Knowing who will benefit the most from buying from you can lead you to the right person. The person who benefits the most may not be the decision maker, but will be able and I daresay willing to help you with a contact name.
Sales history can also help lead you to the right person. Who looks after buying your product at company ‘X’? Is it likely it will be a similar position in c0mpany ‘Y’?
There will be times you find that describing the key benefits of your product/service first will lead to the right person.
When the right person to talk to is not obvious, think about who will benefit the most and go from there. In all cases it beings with some thought and results in the asking of questions.
Good selling,
Richard
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