Sales Step 2 - Identify the Decision Makers and the Benefits that Motivate Them

Step 2 - Specify, by decision making role, interest generating benefits.

Within each sale, there are different decisions that need to be made. One person can play several roles or several people may be in one role. Make sure you know who the players are in each sales opportunity. The different decision makers are listed below along with what they are most interested in. So, when you talk with each of them, stay focused on the benefit area they are in charge of making decisions about. For your convenience, each decision maker is hyperlinked to a more detailed description in the client services area of the www.saleshelp.com Web site.

Final Authority: Return On Investment
Specifier: Performance Specifications and Cost Justification
Coach/Mentor: Credibility and Follow-Through
Negotiator: Feature to Price Ratio
User/Consumer: User Friendliness 3rd Party
Recommendations: Better Service From You and To Be Helpful

Look at previous sales with customers in similar markets of a similar size. This will give you a pretty good idea about who (by title) the decision makers will be. Use directories that list key executives to identify their names. During your calls to research the company, you can verify the correctness of the role.
When you call a company always ask, "Who ARE the people who make decisions about using (name the product/service)? Continue with the different departments or titles that you have and get names for these people.
Call the sales department. Salespeople can understand your plight, its theirs too. Develop a good coach here and you'll get the information you need. Reciprocate when you can for your company or perhaps companies they may call on where you have an inside track.