How to bring in key decision-makers in a conversation without offending your first point of contact?

I want to get your opinion about a tricky situation that I have noticed is way too common in sales.


Oftentimes, a sales rep gets in touch with a prospect who has a high purchase intent. The prospect checks all the boxes like budget, need, or time—but s/he is not the ultimate authority to make the buying decision.


For the rep, it's very tempting to ask the person to call their bosses to join the conversation. But doing so might look like the sales rep is bypassing them to rush to closure.


In such cases, how do you suggest salespeople should bring in key decision-makers to a negotiation process without offending the first person they contact?


Thank you in advance!

🔎 Prospecting
📈 Closing
📣 Demos
18
CoorsKing
WR Officer
13
Retired King of the Coors Knights
It’s pretty typical to ask leadership to join. If they push back, they probably don’t have the juice to get a deal done and that should be a huge red flag for you. I typically just use the below talk track, in a one off quick call (I typically just call their cell):


“Hi <name>, who ultimately owns the decision/signs the check here?   *insert one of below*

- want to help you make the business case
- want to loop in my leadership to get them aligned and have a direct line of comms
- make sure we are checking the boxes in your procurement process 
- expedite the process to help you meet your timeline 

….can you help facilitate that meeting or provide an introduction?”
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
You should be meeting with the decision makers in the first place so you don't waste your time. It happens. Ask who needs to be included.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
4
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
"Who else needs to be included in these discussions?" is always valid.   Also you can tap your expertise:  "we've found that having the buying committee involved early can help eliminate hurdles in the process".
Mickjames
Member
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Ooooo i REALLY like the latter one--I'm filing that in my arsenal. Thanks player

TennisandSales
Politicker
4
Head Of Sales
great question and good reps will be able to identify this early and end up disqualifying the opp or finding a way to get to the next level. 

Im not saying i crush this every-time but here is my approach: 

1. when you have commitment that your POC wants to buy you need to then understand HOW they buy. 
"ok glad you see the value here mike, lets just pretend you wanted to buy this TODAY. what would you have to do in order to do that? 
he/she will then hopefully tell you "well id have to get my boss/directors approval" 

2. Make sure you continue to dig deep here. 
"ok great, who is your boss what is their role?" "and if they are all in what would the next step be?" 
this is where you can hopefully find out the true decision maker / committee of decision makers. 

every time someone says they are the DM I press them on it. I would say something like " Oh great! so just to be clear if a contract was sent to you, you would be able to sign off with out talking to anyone else? or is there a more of a process there?" (there is ALWAYS a process) 


3. You see this all the time in ENT sales. Buying by committee: Key questions: 
who specifically is on the commitee, what are their roles/titles, how often has your POC worked with them in the past. 

When does the committee meet? how often, what do you have to do to get on the agenda? 

"If the committee is all on board is there room in the budget this year to pull the trigger or will this get pushed down the road?" 

if your POC is not willing to share this with you, say this: 
"mike part of my job it to help you get this in place if you really want it. What is your hesitancy in looping in the committee/ sharing info about the committee? Do you feel they will not like this solution? 

you have to pressure test the whole way and be willing to back out if they are not onboard. 

yezzir
Opinionated
3
Account Executive
absolute gold
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Mickjames
Member
2
Enterprise Account Executive
I just screengrabbed this and put it in my notes for future use. This is godmode level challenging
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
kd2022
0
AE (Account Executive)
Yes! 100% if we can’t get their actual dm’s in the room then we are wasting time. There’s no shame in letting “mike” know that you are the expert in getting buy in, and if he lets you help run his evaluation you’ll make him look like a hero
SaaSguy
Tycoon
2
Account Executive
Ask them to walk you through their last software purchase. You will learn each step and can create a mutual plan to check boxes until you get sign off, looping in required team members along the way. 
braintank
Politicker
3
Enterprise Account Executive
This is a great way to do it.

Even more enlightening if they say "I've never purchased anything like this before".
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
2
Professional Day Ruiner
I always who, "who, in addition to yourself, will be a part of this decision so we can include them in the next meeting" - doesn't take away the initial person's sense of importance, and gets them thinking about who is actually relevant and should be on these calls. often time's not including a vp, cto, insert whatever job title here, isn't intentional. they just genuinely don't consider that person would be relevant to a decision until its brought up to them. 
Notmyrealname
Politicker
1
AE
I always ask a few questions about their buying process before asking if anyone else besides them would also benefit from being involved in the conversation.
Maxwho
Contributor
1
Sales
That's a great idea, if you have the experience and clarity to prep for the process beforehand.

But do you think asking the same would work when you realize that a key person might not be involved in the negotiation halfway down the line?
Notmyrealname
Politicker
1
AE
Well ideally you would want to find out as early as possible. That way you don't make it half way through with an unqualified contact.

What makes you think that the person you're dealing with is not the key person? 
Maxwho
Contributor
1
Sales
They don't have the authority to buy and keep referencing to a buying committee.
Notmyrealname
Politicker
2
AE
Then ask them about the committee. If they can't give a satisfactory answer on that they're wasting everyone's time. 
Maxwho
Contributor
1
Sales
You're right. Thanks for your advice.
braintank
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
💯. Be confident. Tell them: "Based on our experience it's best to meet directly with buying committee to answer questions. Can you help arrange that?"
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
you need to push them on who is on the committee. 

"mike that makes total sense many groups your size have a committee of people that have to sign off. who is on this committee specifically? Have you worked with them before? How often do they meet? 
E_Money
Big Shot
1
💰
Always get key DMs in as soon as possible. Setting the stage and setting expectations is super important, that way when this conversation comes up with your current contact there are no surprises and they aren't caught off guard but are ready to answer and even assist in getting them on the line.
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
All the above is great. One tactic I have used to get the clients management involved is to say “my boss likes to have peer to peer discussions before anything is finalized. It’s a formality on our part but can we make that happen?”
techsales
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
You could phrase the ask to bring the DM by saying "most times my [software/services/whatever] requires a committee/etc" and then ask for the others to be looped in
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
If the original POC/Champion wants it they will want to get the DM/Signer involved to get the deal done, it's kind of a great test to see if you have someone that wants your product or not. 
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
Definitely clarify on what is the buying process on their end so you can bring up the fact of "ok if those people are included, what's the best way to bring them in to the fold?" 
So make it feel like the person you're dealing with has some say, even when they do not.
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