Draw the decision process for an opportunity, including the people you have not met.
Take a sale you are working on now and write down every person who will have a say in whether it goes ahead. Then put a tick beside the ones you have spoken to yourself.
This matters because discovery that ignores the decision process has a hole in it. You can find the right problem, measure it, agree it with the buyer, and still lose the sale to someone who never attended a single meeting.
The obvious question is "who makes the decision?" It has two problems. It can sound as if you want to go over your contact's head. And the answer is often wrong, because people tend to describe the official process, the way decisions are supposed to happen. The real process, the way decisions actually get made, can look quite different.
A better approach is to ask how similar decisions were made last time. People describe something that actually happened much more accurately than they describe an abstract process. You might ask, "When you last changed a system like this, how did that go?" With a couple, ask how they decided when they bought their flat.
Hafiz sells a time-clock and attendance system. His contact, Rachel, wants the change. He asks her how the firm chose its current time-clock system. Rachel explains that she shortlisted the system, the director approved it, and then the finance manager made them get two more quotes, which added six weeks. (Hafiz, Rachel and the figures in their story are an invented example.) That one account tells Hafiz more than a direct question would: the director signs off, and finance can slow things down even after approval.
A story about a past decision brings out things people would not think to mention, such as a finance manager who delayed things, a parent consulted at the last minute, or a director who signs only after seeing a comparison of three options.
Most sellers ask only who can say yes. You also need to ask who can say no and who will be affected. Useful questions are "Who else will this affect?", "Who might have concerns?" and "Who would need to be comfortable with it, even if they don't sign?"
The people who can say no are often not the senior ones. A payroll clerk who uses a system every day can sink a decision by telling the director it looks complicated. A spouse who was not at the meeting can end a financial plan with one sentence. A finance manager can insist on a process that adds months. As you identify each person, add them to your map, with what they care about if you know it.
In personal sales the same principle applies, often more strongly. Household decisions about insurance, savings, a renovation or a child's education rarely rest with one person, even when only one person comes to the meeting.
Wei Ling, a financial planner in another invented example, spent two meetings with Marcus and Jia Hui. The plan was ready and the couple liked it. At the third meeting, Jia Hui said she had shown the plan to her mother, who thought they should hold off on the savings plan and put more into the flat. Jia Hui was not sure herself. Nobody had mentioned that her mother would have a view, and Wei Ling now had to win over someone she had never met, through a daughter who was unsure.
Wei Ling already knew Jia Hui helps support her parents. She had not asked who else was involved in decisions. If she had, she would have learned that Jia Hui's mother expects a say in big money decisions and has strong views about property. Wei Ling now asks that question in every first meeting.
Ask it while you are still in discovery, well before any proposal exists: is anyone else involved, such as a partner, a parent, or anyone they usually talk money through with? Where possible, invite those people to the next meeting. Asked early, the answer shapes the plan; discovered late, it can undo the plan, as Jia Hui's mother nearly did.
Once you know the people, agree the steps from now to a decision with the buyer, with rough dates, and write them down together. For Hafiz and Rachel it might read: summary sent by Friday; Rachel shows it to Kelvin, the director, next week; if he is interested, the three of them meet the week after; finance gets the contract terms then; decision wanted before the night shift starts in two months. Read it back and check it sounds right to them.
Writing the steps down does two things. It shows the buyer you understand how their organisation works, which builds trust. It also gives you both a shared reference, so if a step slips, either side can see it and ask why. These agreed steps feed into Lesson 7.3, "Agree the next step before you leave".
A decision map is a simple sketch of everyone involved in the decision. To draw one:
Put each person in a box, with their name or role. Note what they care about. Note whether they can say yes, say no, or only influence. Draw lines showing who reports to whom, or who listens to whom. Mark which people you have not yet spoken to directly, for example by ticking only the boxes of people you have met.
Hafiz's map for Rachel's firm has five boxes. Rachel wants the change. Kelvin, the director, approves spending and cares about cost and driver retention. The finance manager will compare vendors and cares about contract terms. The payroll clerk will use the system daily and is worried about learning something new. The drivers will not decide anything, but their complaints started the whole conversation, and a night shift is due to start in two months.
Hafiz has spoken to Rachel and, briefly, to the payroll clerk. Kelvin and the finance manager are unmarked. Those unmarked boxes are his next questions, and they show him where the risk in the sale sits.
Choose one current opportunity where more than one person is involved, or where you suspect someone else might be, and have your notes on it ready before you start the activity below.
Draw a decision map for one current opportunity. List each person, their role and what they care about, and mark the ones you have not spoken to.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).