Your close rate will be lower selling below the “line”. Selling to everyday prospects vs selling to the decision maker reduces your close rate and wastes time.

Your goal should be selling to actual buyers.

Selling to everyday prospects may feel like progress but this can actually create a barrier preventing you from having a meeting with the actual decision maker.

Even if that prospect champions your product it still become difficult to sell as your prospect can’t handle objections or sell as well as you can.

Decisions are made at the top, so it makes perfect sense that decisive people tend to rise to the top of companies. In many cases, an executive’s seniority in a company can be measured by how many decisions that individual makes in a given day.

If you start at the top, you will have a quicker sales process (as decisions are made much faster), and you will be able to focus your efforts on the next deal sooner.

Referrals from the top are more effective than “climbing the ladder”. Even if the senior contact refers you to someone else in the organization that may not have final decision authority, this is a preferable position than selling directly to the lower level contact.

First of all, if the ultimate decision maker took the time to refer you to someone else for further vetting, you have made it past an important initial screen the decision maker doesn’t believe that your offering is outside the realm of feasibility. Second, your pitch is more likely to be taken seriously and acted upon by the lower level contact, since it has passed the initial scrutiny of the decision maker. Finally, since the decision maker already understands the basics of what you are trying to sell, you won’t have to invest time in coaching your lower-level prospect about what to say or how to position your product to the decision-maker.

You will garner more candid and accurate Win Loss Analysis information. True decision makers provide more candid win loss feedback information. For example, the reason you lose will not be because your contact was afraid to bring the initiative to his boss or because of internal politics. People at the top of organizations tend to be the best communicators and more upfront with feedback; communication is a key skill for executives. In addition, many decision makers have sales backgrounds and appreciate your position as a salesperson. When you get win loss feedback directly from someone who understands sales, you will get an insightful perspective on why you win and lose (or about what you need to do in order to win more business).

Identifying and targeting the true decision maker is the responsibility of the salesperson. Consider adopting the following three strategies to focus your sales efforts on decision makers:

• Perform more upfront prospect research to ensure that you are targeting the right level buyer for your sales meetings.
• Focus outbound sales outreach on senior level contacts.
• During initial sales discussions, ask prospects how the decision to purchase will be made. This will help you better identify your decision maker.