Pablo Software Solutions
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You Sell It - WHO BUYS IT!!!
Michael Boone & Associates Newsletter 
You Sell It - WHO BUYS IT!!!!!      September 2005

Dear Readers,


It's not as if you sold grinding wheels. Then you would know to contact the head of Purchasing or the buyer of grinding wheels in that department.....

At one of our recent Workshops we asked the staffing salespeople..."Who Buys your Service?" We wanted them to tell us not what company but who in the companies are the most frequent buyers.


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The most frequent answer was "somebody in Human Resources", but there were many others: controller, purchasing, even the president. Of course, there were many department heads as well - traffic, research, sales, etc.

Then we discussed others who might influence the sale, and there were many....almost all of the above plus, would you believe the "gatekeeper, president's wife and the sleeper."

We learned the "gatekeeper" is anybody who stands in your way....blocks you from seeing the person you want to see. This might be someone who has a friend or relative in our business, the receptionist, an executive secretary and the president's wife might be the one who has the ear of the decider. In summary, the "sleeper" is any body of influence who stays undercover until decision time.

We were able to sum up our discussion by concluding that ours is an interesting sell with varying deciders unlike the grinding wheel salesman who knows his target is the head guy in Purchasing or the grinding wheel buyer in Purchasing.

For some salespeople, this makes our business complicated and frustrating; but for the seasoned salesperson, finding the decision making team comes with the territory and becomes a challenging game.

Among the important resolves that came out of this session was: Plan to make many contacts in your target account and regard everybody you meet as a possible "sleeper" who may hold the key to your sale!