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Weekly Business Development Tip
Finding The Real Decision Maker/The Hidden Buyer
He lurks in dark corners. He hides in his office. He peers at you through a 1-way mirror. He doesn’t exist according to your prospect. He lives in a bubble. He’s the “go to” person that you never meet. He’s the final, ultimate decision maker even though your prospect has told you he is the decision maker. Your prospect appears to be in charge and he comes off as though he’s the boss with decision-making authority.
Imagine you have submitted your proposal. Everything looks good. Then out of nowhere, the perceived leader of the buying team says, “I’d like to present your proposal to my boss.” Woops!! You thought the person you were speaking to was the boss and he had the decision-making authority right up until this moment. Now..what? You have a couple of choices now: (1) Take back your proposal because it’s proprietary, you’ve been deceived and you now realize that you did not do a good job of identifying the final decision maker. You’ve just learned a hard lesson. (2) Leave your proposal and hope that the person who has deceived you will become a knight in shining armor and take your proposal to “the man.”
If you choose the latter, does your proposal reflect your understanding of the prospect’s problems? Does your proposal represent you and your ideas in a format that speaks to the resolution of the prospect’s problems or is it all about you and your company? Does your proposal stand-alone? Does your proposal:
- Reflect what your statements were in earlier meetings?
- Show a measurement for results or improvements?
- Include testimonials evidencing that you've done similar projects before?
- Show a timeline for delivering your products or services?
- Represent value to your prospect? Is it worth it?
- Detail the deliverables?
- Detail the terms of payment?
The next time someone asks you for a proposal try this response: "Why don't we talk about how we can work together right now and if we are in agreement, I'll come back tomorrow with a summary of our understanding in the form of an agreement." You will know very quickly if you are moving forward or if you are wasting your time. You'll have a response in real time.
Better yet: avoid this situation all together. Don't do proposals... do memorandums of understanding or do agreements. If you are going to draft an agreement, be sure to flush out the real decision maker, the hidden buyer.
"Faith in oneself...is the best and safest course." – Michaelangelo
Ken
Ken Levine
Impact Business Solutions, Inc.
508-845-8849
SELL MORE BY SELLING LESS
www.impactbussolutions.com
Call toll free: 877-845-8849
