The Importance of Failing to Reach Decision Makers Early in the Sales Process

When we evaluate a sales team, one of the two dozen or so questions we answer is whether the company’s salespeople can be more effective at reaching decision makers.  We include several factors to support our answer, but I can share that the findings come from:

• their sales DNA
• their Beliefs
• their existing set of selling skills, and
• their comfort level

When it comes to salespeople believing, reaching, acting appropriately and speaking the language of senior decision makers, it is very ugly out there.  

Our statistics show that a whopping 68% of salespeople struggle to reach decision makers (or stakeholders).

Our statistics also show that salespeople who do start their sales process with decision makers (or stakeholders), they are 346% more likely to close the business.

Company leaders wonder why their sales cycles are so long, their win rates are so low, and their margins are slip sliding away…

How do your salespeople measure up?  Let’s discuss some actual scenarios on reaching decision.

I received a cold call that went like this:

“Hi Mr. Kurlan, this is [name withheld] from [huge company name withheld]. We’re a company that…..oh no – the script disappeared from my computer. I…I…can’t talk to you without following the script.  Bye.”

The Mr. Kurlan thing is like fingernails on a chalkboard – I can’t stand it and never will.  About the only time it doesn’t bother me is when my Korean dry cleaner sees me and says, “Oh, Mista Kuelahn, hah ah you?”  That cracks me up – every time!

It also tells me that before he says another word, he doesn’t know me.  If he did, he use “Dave.”

Additionally, it tells me that he doesn’t believe he is belongs at my level, shouldn’t really be talking with me and can’t speak my language.

I don’t even have to provide commentary about what happened with his computer and script. I do know that there isn’t a CEO anywhere that would have listened for even 5 seconds if he had started reading from a script!

A client asked about a salesperson at a his company.  One of the findings on his OMG Sales Candidate Assessment said that he would have difficulty calling on Senior Executives and, of course, he was struggling.  When the client asked what they could say to him, I said:

• Intellectually, he needs to know how crucial this is for his success.
• Conceptually, he needs to know that he can reach senior decision makers.
• Belief-wise, he needs to know he belongs with senior decision makers.
• Practically speaking, he needs to learn the strategies and tactics for how to consistently reach senior decision makers.

I received an email announcing the results of another survey. While it included plenty of silly statistics, there were some very important findings in there too.

Much of the survey focused on how, when and where salespeople prepare for and deliver presentations to close.  Most of the sales questions (how they sell) focused on presenting – not conversations, discussions, questions, or anything approaching a consultative approach.  So, it shouldn’t be surprising that the survey reported that salespeople were frustrated by the following presentation challenges:

• technology not functioning (56%),
• key decision-makers absent from the room (50%),
• a disengaged or distracted audience (34%),
• not feeling well-prepared (14%),

and the following post-presentation/closing challenges:

• unresponsive/difficult-to-reach prospects (55%)
• not knowing who else is influencing purchasing decisions (49%)
• having a hard time telling if the prospect is interested (26%)
• not having appropriate follow-up materials (17%)

Half of the salespeople in this study reported that they aren’t reaching decision makers.  And why would a decision maker want to be reached if the salespeople are focused only on presentations?  

When salespeople fail to engage with the senior decision makers, bad things will happen.  They’ll waste their own time, but they’ll also waste the precious time of others.  They’ll cost their company money for wasting resources, but they’ll also lose out on way too many lost opportunities, costing the company even more.

The problem with reaching decision makers is much bigger than most companies know because they aren’t tracking that as a milestone in their sales process, in their CRM, or as a reason for not winning the business.

Reaching Decision Makers is one of the 21 Sales Core Competencies, and along with a solid Sales Process, a Consultative Approach, Selling Value and Thorough Qualifying, represent the competencies required for success and those that must be the focus of sales training and coaching.

Raise the bar, train up and coach up, and help your salespeople reach decision makers today!