The Kinds of People You’ll Meet in your B2B sales trip

In the chapter, “The Art and Science of a Sales Pitch”, we learnt that in B2B, we sell to an individual and not an organisation. While it’s true that we’re solving an individual’s problem, an organisation has various departments that individual decision makers run. 

Let’s look at the kinds of girls Bollywood sketches for the movies.

1. The Tomboys:

These girls are adventurous, outdoorsy and can be seen wearing masculine clothing and engaging in games and activities that are traditionally ‘unfeminine.’

2. The Drama Queen:

The drama queens add spice to our lives with their intolerable rona-dhona! The over-the-top reactions, describes them completely.

3. The Fashionistas

These girls dress in fancy designer clothes, wear high heels and makeup and will never get caught looking horrible even when they have just woken up from their beds. 

4. The Carefree Ones:

They are the happiest creatures on earth. They hardly care what people have to say, they’re happy with their own life, living it their own way.

5. The Feminists:

These girls uplift the women in their lives. They’re always concerned with women’s issues and talk of inequality and injustice towards women.

All these personalities have to be dealt with differently. 

Similarly, each client has a different personality, a different agenda and approach to your solution. 

Here are some of the other key players you’ll meet on your sales journey and how to deal with each:

The Enemy: Mr. Sharma, the head of Learning & Development at a Fortune 500 company is set in his ways. He refuses to entertain any new vendors who have the latest technology and method to train employees for the emerging work space. He prefers going to the same boring trainer who has been training for the last 5 years despite indifferent feedback. He is resistant to change.

How can the enemy help you?

Start by seeking knowledge as to why Mr. Sharma is against you or perhaps against any solution. Then approach him and ask him where you stand on winning the business, ask him if the company has a preferred solution to yours.

By hearing it directly from the enemy two important things happen.

• First, you get to hear in their words what their objections are and that gives you a chance to try and overcome them directly.
• Second, if they’re in favor of your competitor then they are simply against you for no particular reason. This is often driven by the propaganda of your competitor whom they support.

Like all forms of prejudice, by meeting your enemy it makes them harder to hate you.

The Sage :  Mr. Narayan has been in the organisation for a long time and knows all the employees, the organization and its systems inside-out. He might not be aware of your latest training offering but he’s always on the lookout for the betterment of the company. 

You can meet him by walking the halls and talking to people randomly. You should also ask your senior to give you details of people like Mr. Narayan who’ve been around and are full of long-term corporate knowledge.

How can the sage help you?

Mr. Narayan will help you to understand the systems, people and processes of the company. He knows “why things are the way they are.”

He might lack authority but he will help you reach influential people if you can convince him that your product is the right fit for the company. He can be a valuable source of information that will also come in handy if you win the business and need to lead an implementation.

The Expert : Mrs. Rao is an expert at understanding training modules. She has been a part of many sessions and keeps herself abreast with diverse ways to motivate employees. The organization turns to her as the “expert witness” on any training decision they’re trying to make. She reports to the decision maker.

The expert can be – Chief of Technology, CFO, Head of Procurement, Legal. 

How can the expert help you?

The classic definition of an expert is somebody that DOES have influence but does not have authority. They are a recommender, not a decider.

So you need convince Mrs. Rao that your service is something their company needs, and it will definitely reach the ears of the decision maker. She might be tough to convince so like a true salesman you must know your product inside-out. 

The Influencer :  Ms Sangma is very similar to an expert but she doesn’t have specific domain knowledge on training modules. Her inputs are valued in the company, and she reports to the decision maker directly. 

How can the influencer help you?

You can ask your leader to tell you about who influences whom. You need to convince Ms. Sangma to reach the decision maker. You need to find out everything about her – what does she base his decision on? Her likes, dislikes and then approach her using the learning from “The Art and Science of a Sales Pitch”.

Key Takeaways 

1. There are different people in an organisation who influence a sale. You need to build bonds with all of them

2. Understand a person’s role in an organisation before you approach them with your pitch

3. When you’re in the organisation talk to as many people as you can to build contacts

Up Next

Now that you've met these people you need to understand how to influence each one. And finding each one's pain point is the first step to truly understanding your client - no matter who they are. The next chapter emphasizes on the importance of pain points.