Make the Right Sales Calls: Gaining Access to the True Sales Decision Maker

Sales calls only work when they’re made to the right person. Here are three factors to keep in mind to determine and reach the true decision maker.

According to this post by John Kenney, senior consultant at Sales Benchmark Index, a recent survey conducted by SBI found that 72% of respondents rated “gaining access to the true decision maker” as one of their Top 3 issues. “Finding and calling on the right contacts lies at the heart of the complex sale,” Kenney writes, and while maintaining and monitoring CRM data and organizational charts can provide sales reps with helpful information, asking the right questions during conversations with leads can be invaluable in filling in gaps as well as determining behind-the-scenes political dynamics that can be key to gaining access to true decision makers.

To do so, sales reps should gauge three key factors during their calls with each contact: role, relationship, and influence, Kenney argues, and to help SBI offers a free Relationship Matrix tool, a template for organizing the Role, Relationship, and Influence information in a meaningful and useful way. It contains a series of questions that enable the rep to assess the players involved in the decision.