Salespeople can increase the chances of closing a sale by involving more than one decision-maker in the process.
Those sales professionals who build alliances with others in a prospect’s company may get them to apply the internal pressure needed to close the deal.
Here are three tips to find and build those alliances:
- Create leverage points. Asking questions and observing a prospect’s interaction with co-workers can help locate the people that the prospect admires, reports to or competes with. Observe who the prospect consults with for answers to questions. Getting the message to those people as well as the decision-maker may increase the chances of making a sale.
- Find internal people who’ve earned the prospect’s trust. They are usually a prospect’s immediate supervisor or the prospect’s equal in the organization. Try to identify them by name, and reach out to them during sales calls. The easiest way to understand the decision-making process is to ask directly how the team will function in its decision-making.
- Make a group presentation. When speaking to a group of prospects, watch who does most of the talking or asks the most questions. These may be the people who carry the most weight. Get them on your side and you could have influential allies.
Source: Michael Boylan is the CEO of Strategic Access Systems, a training and consulting firm based in Minneapolis.
