The Financial Influencer
1. The Financial Influencer(s)
2. The User Influencers
3. The Gatekeeper(s)
4. Your Champion or Sponsor
In this article, we will look at the first one on the list, The Financial Influencer, or as I like to call him - The Cheque Signer, or The Final Authority. This is the most important person to get to know. This should be the first person you contact whenever you are trying to open a new account.
Many times we contact someone we know in an account, and many times they are the users of our product and/or service. We definitely need to know these people too, but if you start at the top, then you can always go back to them later in the sales cycle. If you start with someone below this influencer in the organization chart, then you will have a very, very difficult time trying to reach this influencer and authority later in the sales cycle, when you may need to talk to him or her.
So, let's look at the financial influencer, and see what traits this person has, and why this person is so important to know.
The Financial Influencer
The financial influencer's role is to give the final approval to buy. This role may consist of more than one person. It may be an executive committee. It could possibly even be the Board of Directors. Much of this role will depend upon a number of factors. The three most important factors to you are:
1. The size of the company
2. The dollar amount of your proposal
3. The impact your solution has on the organization
There are number of reasons why this influencer may be a committee. The most important factor in the buying process is what impact your product or service has on the organization. Does you product or service affect a whole department? Does this department have to change the way they currently operate? If so, then it will probably affect more than one department.
The financial influencer is focusing on the bottom line and what influence your product does have on the organization. This influencer has the following characteristics. Has direct access to the dollars needed Can release the funds Has some discretionary use of funds Has a veto power
This influencer asks "What kind of return will the company get on this investment".
So, be aware of this when you are selling. This influencer has the most persuasion power of any of the other influencers. However, it is imperative to incorporate the other influencers into the process too. In fact, very few if any corporate decisions are made today, without the approval of all of the buying influencers.
Ensure that you get to know this person very early in your sales cycle. There are many ways to get to know this person, and we will discuss some of these ways in a later article.
Related Tags: marketing, coaching, selling, sales training, sales, sales process, selling process, sales coaching
Ian Dainty has been involved in selling and marketing for over 30 years. Ian started his business career with IBM. He has owned, grown and successfully sold two technology related businesses. Ian has trained thousands of sales, marketing and management people on strategies for opening new account, selling to small and medium sized businesses, as well as managing large Fortune 500 companies. Ian has written a book entitled "A Blueprint for Success in Hi-Tech Sales". Visit Ian's web site at http://www.hitechsalescoach.com and join his newsletter to obtain a free copy. Or you can purchase the book on its own. You can also contact Ian at ian@hitechsalescoach.com Good Selling.
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