Sales Negotiation Questions to Get to the Decision Maker

We coach our clients to ask for the decision-makers – especially in the best Sales Negotiation Training and our Advanced Negotiation Training courses. Too many people ask ineffective questions like, “Do you make the decisions?” or “Are you the decision-maker?” to which most will answer “Yes.” Why do people answer ‘Yes’ when they’re not really the decision-maker? Simply because everyone wants to think of themselves as important. So, how do you get to your real decision-makers?

Two Decision-Maker Questions

It is best to presume that the person you’re talking to is ‘one’ of the decision-maker when asking about decision making. Ask your questions in one of these two ways:

• “Aside from you, who else are the decision-makers?”
  This question doesn’t break rapport or risk denting their ego, and it allows them to confess their lack of complete decision-making capacity while sharing the real decision-makers with you. You’ve also paid them a compliment by presuming their status as that of a decision-maker – which they can correct you on.

• “Every company’s different. How does your company make a decision like this?”
  This question casts the light of your enquiry on the less threatening area of their company process. Decision-making process conversations take your conversation off the rocky road of ego and status. In describing their process, they usually reveal the names of the people you need to talk with so listen carefully and take notes.

Many sellers graduating from our Sales Negotiation Training report how surprised they felt the first time they ask one of these questions and were handed or emailed a copy of their customer’s organization or division chart, complete with reporting lines and titles.

Trust and Relationships

Without a doubt, when you start by building a trusting relationship, you’ll massively boost your chances of getting your decision-making questions answered. Before you focus on what you can get, think of what you can give. How can you benefit the person you want to influence in your sales negotiations? Make the law of reciprocation work for you. Do favours for others on a business OR a personal level and you’ll notice them wanting to help you out far more often. Of course, it goes without saying that you want to honor your word. So, build a reputation as someone who delivers on promises.

The more people you ask, the higher your chances of uncovering the real negotiation decision-makers. Keep on building relationships and keep on getting your customers to introduce you to their colleagues. You can use some of the intelligence gathered from one customer to ask a great question to one of their colleagues long before you get to the negotiation table to make your sale. For example, “I’ve heard that your steering committee need to approve this type of purchase. When next are they meeting?” While the first person you speak with may not be prepared to share this level of information with you, the second or third person may presume that because one of their colleagues has trusted you with some information, that they can trust you with more information.

Final Words

Too many sales professionals fear their customer clamming up in response to decision-making questions in their business negotiations. Most of the time, given a sufficient level of trust, your customers will reveal their decision-making process along with it their decision-makers’ names and roles. If you don’t ask, you usually don’t get. While professional buyers may choose to own their company’s communication with you during sales negotiation time, their colleagues will usually prove more liberal in sharing their decision-makers.