One of the competencies of top salespeople is the ability to get to the decision-maker. When this is a strength, producers find a way to reach the person responsible for deciding to purchase the products or services offered, even at the risk of seeming pushy. Of course, it is key to be in front of the decision maker before you can begin to help your prospect make a decision.
We have come to recognize how essential it is to understand the buyer’s journey and how a prospect recognizes that they have a problem, how they search for a solution, and how they evaluate those solutions to make a resource choice and a decision. Salespeople have a great deal of influence on this entire process, and they must be adept at helping their prospect make a decision, whether it means they gain the business or not.
The customer’s decision-making process may be the most important step in the buyer’s journey. Salespeople can gain a great deal of information from CRMs, lead-nurturing data, and best practices from industry research systems like RelPro and IBISWorld. However, these tools will not give them insights into a prospect’s specific decision-making process.
There are nuances in every company as to how they approach an important purchase. Elite salespeople are skilled at asking the right questions in order to help their prospect make a decision.
Questions to Ask About Your Customer’s Decision-Making Process
One best practice is to be direct and ask the question simply. We coach salespeople in the commitment step of the sales process to ask:
“When you’ve made a decision like this in the past, what was your process?”
The question is simple enough, but the prospect may give a surface answer, making it seem less complex than it really is. There is rarely just one person deciding on a complex buying decision. Usually, the decision impacts others whom they will want to gain input from.
Salespeople who are skilled at helping their prospects make decisions help them think through this by drilling down from their surface answer and asking further questions such as:
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“Will that be the same process you follow this time?”
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“How long does that normally take?”
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“Who will this change impact in the organization?”
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“Who all needs to fall in love with this solution to gain approval?”
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“Can I go with you to present to the committee?”
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“How will you tell your current provider?”
It may not matter how much your direct contact likes the solution you have recommended. If the customer’s decision-making process is unknown, you risk losing the deal.
Those important questions need to be asked, and salespeople who master them close more sales. It takes courage, yes, and finesse as well, to ask these questions in a helpful, guiding manner.
Coaching Your People to Help Prospects Make a Decision
One of the findings from our partners at Objective Management Group is this: Managers who are effective at helping their salespeople get prospects to commit to a decision have 40% more top performers than managers who are ineffective at coaching on decision-making.
Why is this so predictive of success?
If managers are helping their team regularly uncover the decision-making process and gain commitment, then they are probably coaching to an effective selling system. Helping your prospect make a decision means you have uncovered a compelling reason for them to buy, thoroughly qualified the opportunity, and presented a need- and cost-appropriate solution at the right time.
This takes active listening, many insightful and challenging questions, and the ability to push back appropriately on potential stall tactics.
