Internal politics can be poisonous to a sale. They can also make
a sale happen. Over the years, I've developed my own system on
how to determine "who's who" in the world of internal
organizational politics. Here's my system in one sentence: Find
out who the boss is of the person you're calling on.
Let's say you're getting ready to give a presentation to
BigCo. You take the time to find out who is on the board of BigCo.
Much to your surprise (and horror), you find out that three of the
five board members are customers of your biggest competitor.
Before you invest any time and resources on your presentation,
you must pick up the phone, make an in-person visit, send an e-mail
or leave a voice-mail message for your target prospect's top
officer. Ask something like the following: "Will the fact that
three of your five board members are customers of my largest
competitor have any impact on your becoming a customer of
mine?"
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Use what you learn about the board to pose a positive, direct
and meaningful question to your target prospect--a question that
solicits this top officer's opinion and gets you the answer you
need to put yourself in the best possible position.
Now you must find out how long the incumbent top officer has
been in command and where she/he came from. Here's why: Suppose
you find out that the person you are targeting your presentation to
came from an organization that was one of your competitor's
strongholds a few years ago? Then you must also ask something like
this: "How much of an influence will your past experience with
XYZ Co. have on your decision to become a customer of
mine?"
Keep in mind that "best possible position" may not
translate as "first place." Sometimes it's better to
cut your losses than to continue to invest your time and your
organization's funds and resources.
As you can see, it will be difficult to come up with a
"hard dollar" cost for the political risk of your
presentation, but you may want to add the total revenue potential
of this sale to the total of your financial and opportunity
risk.
The Overall
Risk
Take a look at your total financial, opportunity and political
risk, and ask yourself the following:
1. If my presentation is a smashing
success, what's the probability of making the sale?
2. If I had to pay for the expense of making this presentation
out of my own pocket, would I still deliver the presentation?
If you decide to move forward, I also recommend putting together
a discovery agreement--a proposed agenda for your presentation that
contains your understanding of the goals, plans and objectives of
the target organization. The vast majority of top officers have
zero tolerance for incompetence. I also know that top officers need
to always feel that they are in control. The discovery agreement
lets you address both concerns. It's a brief synopsis compiled
in bullet points listing your understanding of the unique
challenges, initiatives, needs, goals and plans that are now facing
this organization. The discovery agreement is basically a hedge
against incompetence.
Note that the discovery agreement does not explain or introduce
your ideas. That's what your presentation will do later on in
the process.
Take a look at your sales forecast, and select the next prospect
that is ready for a sales presentation. Take the steps I've
outlined at the beginning of this article and perform your due
diligence and mathematics. Then determine the overall risk and
prepare your discovery agreement.
In next month's column, I'll go into more detail about
the actual presentation. In the meantime, if you run into any
interesting challenges, write to me via the Entrepreneur.com
Expert Center.
Anthony Parinello is the author of the bestselling book Selling to VITO, the Very Important Top
Officer. For additional information on his speeches, Sales
Success Kits and newest book, CEOs who Sell, call (800) 777-VITO or
visit www.sellingtovito.com.
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