Sales Essentials: Ramp-Up Course

Why the Decision Step Matters

Here's what we're going to cover today: the decision step, which is one of the three qualifying steps in SAMER. I want to start with some research on decision-making in corporations - how many people are involved, what's in flux - because I want to establish why this step is so important. Then we'll go over the six components of the decision process, and we'll create your questions. That's the goal.

Everybody sells different things. Longer selling cycles, shorter selling cycles, multiple people, a limited number of people. The key to this session is it's not one-size-fits-all, so you're going to take these components and fit them to your world. My decision step might be different than Kelly's. Have an open mind to that - don't sit there and go, "Those two questions are irrelevant to me." Just fit it to your world. And like last week, we'll do some skills practice, because I want repetition in a low-risk environment. I don't want to practice this stuff in front of prospects. Practice it in breakout groups with colleagues, make mistakes, get feedback. That's how you get better.

Research on Stakeholders in the Buying Process

There's a company in Chicago called G2 - a review company - and here's what they found in 2021 and 2022. About 30% of the time in a selling cycle, one new stakeholder was always added to the process. 41% of the time, it was frequently added. Add those up and about 71% of the time, a new stakeholder was either always or frequently added. That means it's a constant - it's in flux. If you have a nine-month selling cycle, there's probably going to be a stakeholder who comes in and out. People change jobs. It's the rule now, not the exception.

The second piece is a Gartner study from 2022 looking at enterprise-level deals. The average enterprise deal has about 14 stakeholders involved in the decision process. And less than half of them are actually engaged with the salesperson. A lot of salespeople only know one or two people and are missing the rest. A Google study from June 2023 put it even higher - 19 stakeholders: three ultimate approvers, six core committee members, and ten other influencers. Some studies say 14, some say 19, some say 10. Here's the point: it's more than one, more than two, more than three. Have that mindset when you're working with companies.

There's another Gartner study on companies with one to 500 employees - on average, seven people are involved in a typical decision. I work with a company that sells CRM, and when they saw that number, they went to ChatGPT and said, "I sell CRM software to companies between one and 500 employees. Who are the people involved, what are their titles, and why would they want to be involved?" The output covered the CEO, CTO, marketing director, operations manager - each with a clear reason for their involvement. If you're going into a call tomorrow, input your situation into ChatGPT and ask it to generate the eight people most likely involved in this decision and why. It helps you prepare, because I'm not sure I could rattle off all seven titles off the top of my head. AI spits it out quickly. Use it.

The Six Components of the Decision Step

We're now in the third of the three qualifying steps. We've covered pain, we've covered investment, and now we're in the decision step. I've been a sales manager and a salesperson, and I've winged this part - and it's caught me. It's probably one of the most important parts of the qualifying process, because you can uncover so much, get better insight, and improve your ability to forecast when a deal is going to close.

There are six components. Think of them like journalism questions: **when, why, what, who, how,** and **who else.**

"When" - Creating Urgency Through a Decision Timeline

The first is **when**. When does the prospect need a solution in place, or when do they need to see results? What this question does - and there's a book on this, "A Sense of Urgency" by John Kotter - is create a shared understanding that there's a limited window. When makes it clear that delays could lead to missed opportunities or negative consequences. When actually creates pain.

Here's one way to use it. Say it's October 25th and your prospect says they need implementation by March 31st. You could say, "Let's timeline this out together just to make sure it's realistic." You sit down and walk through the steps - discovery meeting, bringing in users, proposal review, presentation, vendor selection, contracts, rollout. When you put that on paper, what happens? People discover they have less time than they thought. John, who does this regularly, said it best: prospects only have visibility to their own calendar, and when they see the full picture, they realize they have no time and need to start much sooner. That's a powerful tool. If it fits your world, use it.

"Why" and "What" - Uncovering Motivation and Process

The second component is **why**. Why that date? Simon Sinek says "why" is born out of pain, and that's exactly right here. I had a prospect recently who told me they needed the deal done by end of March because their fiscal year closes then - the budget exists now, and if they don't spend it, it's gone next year. Good to know. Another company might say they need to beat a competitor to market. I don't know their why until I ask. If someone gives you a date and you don't follow up with why, you're going to miss the real urgency behind it.

The third component is **what** - what process does your company typically go through when making a decision like this? In my experience doing Sandler for three decades, this is one of the most impactful questions you can ask. Most salespeople have no clue what their prospect's decision process actually looks like. Think about your biggest deal right now. Do you know it?

"Who" - Mapping the Decision-Making Cast

The fourth component is **who** - and this is usually the only question salespeople think to ask about the decision. But there are layers. You have ultimate decision-makers, who you may never meet but who can absolutely determine the outcome. I had a salesperson selling health insurance who was certain the HR director and CFO were the only people that mattered. He lost the deal because the CEO had never heard of his company, preferred the well-known competitor, and that was that. The ultimate decision-maker never engaged - and he never knew to look for one.

Then you have users - the people touching your product every day. You have influencers who don't use the product but affect the decision, like legal or references. And you have economic buyers - CFOs, procurement, the people focused on dollars and ROI. When you're mapping out a cast of 14 people, do you know who falls into which category?

On top of that, within any group, you're going to have champions, neutral parties, and your competitor's champions. You need to know who's who - especially if you're selling through someone rather than directly to the committee.

Isolating the Champion

If you have a situation where your champion is going to present on your behalf, here's what you need to verify. Ask them directly: "If this decision were entirely up to you and you didn't have to involve anyone else, who would you go with?" If they say anything less than 100% - "I'd probably go with you," "99% sure," "you're my leading choice" - your radar needs to go up. That person is not your champion. They will walk into that meeting and get crushed.

If your champion is genuinely committed, they'll say something like, "That's almost a dumb question - you'd already be in here." And if they respond that way, you can say, "Great - let's carve out 30 to 45 minutes to prep for that meeting. Let's talk about who the other champions are, who's pushing for a competitor, and what objections you're likely to face." A real champion takes that call every time. If they push back and say they're fine going in alone, that's a signal. You need to find out why they're not fully committed before they walk into that room. We call this technique isolating the decision-maker, and if you sell through people, it's critical.

"How" and "Who Else" - Criteria and Competition

The fifth component is **how** - how will you evaluate the companies you're considering? What's the criteria? A lot of times, companies haven't even defined it yet, which gives you an opportunity to frame it. If Maddie tells me she hasn't figured out the criteria yet, I might say: "Whatever company you choose, make sure the trainer actually sells - because if they're reading from a corporate syllabus, you'll lose your best salespeople. And make sure it's ongoing, long-term reinforcement. If I told you I could teach you Spanish in a three-day seminar, you'd laugh. But that's what most sales training companies do." Now I've shaped the criteria in her mind before she walks into that meeting.

The sixth component is **who else** - who else is involved, and who else are you looking at? Fairly self-explanatory, but important.

Building Your Own Decision Step Questions

So the six are: **when, why, what, who, how, and who else.** Not all of these will apply to your world. Some of you are B2B with 14 stakeholders. Some of you are B2C where it might just be one or two people. Joel made this point well - in a B2C sale, asking "who else besides yourself needs to be involved?" often just gets you, "It's just me." That's fine. The point is to take these components and build the questions that fit your selling environment. Get rid of what's irrelevant. Keep what adds value. At the end of the day, you leave here with a decision-making step and a set of questions to ask. That's time well spent.