Recognizing Influencers In The Customer Decision Process

What do you do when the decision maker won’t engage? Every CSM runs into it. You’ve got a rock-solid relationship with your day-to-day contact... But you’re hitting a wall trying to reach the C-suite. Here’s the mindset shift: 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰, 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻. Your influencer may not have the title, but they 𝘥𝘰 have access. And with the right support, they can advocate powerfully on your behalf. Here’s how to do it: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 Help your contact understand the metrics, outcomes, or strategic priorities that matter to leadership, even if they’re not exposed to them directly. "𝘈𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘝𝘗𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘟, 𝘠, 𝘡." 𝟮. 𝗦𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 Prompt them to schedule time with their leader, and clarify the purpose. "𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 — 𝘭𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳." 𝟯. 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 Don’t just hope they say the right things. Equip them with clear talking points. "𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵." 𝟰. 𝗔𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 Send a one-pager, a results summary, or slides from your last EBR. Give them what they need to look like a rockstar in front of their leadership. Remember: 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 — 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. And if you do this right, you not only gain executive visibility... You also elevate your internal champion into a stronger leader along the way. Empowered contacts open doors. What’s helped you engage decision makers when access is limited? #customersuccess

When I ask B2B marketers about their target buyer persona, their response is always: “We’re targeting decision makers” ✔️And when we check their CRM data, it’s true ✔️Their customers are C-level execs or VPs ✔️Those with the final say in the buying decision. 💡 But when we check their website data: The people filling out forms are functional users: Mid to Senior level Managers, or Directors Functional users aren’t decision-makers —they’re decision influencers. They: ✔ Research options. ✔ Compare solutions. ✔ Present recommendations to the C-suite. Why does this matter? Functional users are often the first to research and shortlist, If your website doesn’t engage them, you'll never make it to the decision makers radar. So don’t just optimize the website to the decision-maker. → Analyze every form submission. → Research on all the personas in your sales cycle.

Vendors in the DSO industry often converge around a common and typically very narrow or misguided definition of their target customer. They then wonder why the sales cycle for their product or service is longer than they had originally anticipated. Having previously been responsible for procuring millions of dollars worth of consumables, equipment, technology and services at a private equity-backed dental support organization, here is what I’ve learned. The purchase decision at a DSO usually involves, directly or indirectly, a chain of customers or buyers. Many parts of the chain are hidden from the vendor’s sight and therefore never addressed by their sales process. Sometimes the DSO’s own employees don’t even know about it, especially if the DSO has been rapidly acquiring practices or has had high staff turnover. The more decentralized the DSO’s support services, the longer the buying chain tends to be and the more complex and costly it is for vendors to navigate it. One of the common mistakes that companies make when selling to DSOs is not differentiating between centralized vs. decentralized DSOs as well as treating the cost to acquire and service both kinds of DSO as the same. For many products and services, the degree of centralization of the DSO’s support services has direct implications for the vendor’s sales, customer onboarding/success, account management and expansion strategy. There are three types of customers in any DSO buying chain: 1️⃣ The purchasers who pay for the product or service (ex. Dentist Entrepreneur, CFO). 2️⃣ The actual users of the product or service (ex. Office Administrator, Dental Hygienist). 3️⃣ The influencers whose opinion can make all the difference in a buying decision (ex. Board Advisor, External Consultant). Sometimes the influencer is a spouse or the romantic partner of a dentist who the vendor has never met. This dentist could have equity in the practice or they could be the original owner of the dental office prior to its affiliation with the DSO. Their spouse or romantic partner may not officially work there. Most vendors focus on the purchasers who pay for the product or service and the actual users because they’re the most visible while not paying close attention to identifying the hidden influencers along the buying chain. Although the three groups of customers mentioned above may overlap, they are often distinct, as are their value preferences. To accelerate your company’s sales cycle with DSOs, look across the buying chain for hidden customers and ensure that they fully understand the utility of your product or service. The key word is utility. Not features, price or benefit statements written by the marketing department. To better understand the real utility of your company’s product or service, nothing beats spending time in the field with customers and noncustomers. #SinaAmiri #healthcare #dentistry #procurement #purchasing #strategy