You will be able to help the buyer bring in the other decision makers rather than waiting for an answer.
The proposal walkthrough goes well. Joel likes option two and says the weekly till check is exactly what he needs. Then he says, "Let me check with my wife. She does half the books, so it's her call too." Priya says, "Of course," and the meeting ends. A week later she sends a polite follow-up. Joel replies that they are still discussing it. Two weeks after that, he stops replying.
"I need to check with someone else" is often true. Most purchases of any size involve more than one person: a spouse, a business partner, a director, a finance team, a parent. The problem is not the objection. It is what most sellers do with it, which is nothing. They wait, and the decision gets made in a conversation they are not part of, by someone who heard about the offer second-hand.
This lesson shows you how to help the buyer bring the other person in, instead of waiting for an answer.
Start with two questions. "Who else will be involved?" and "What do you think will matter most to them?"
Both are about understanding, not blocking. The Discovery course's lesson 5.4, Map who decides and how, showed how to map the people involved in a decision. Ideally you would have found them in discovery. If someone appears now for the first time, that is worth noting for your next discovery meeting, but your job right now is to understand them.
Joel's answer: "My wife, Lin. She does the Sunday books with me. She'll want to know we're not just paying someone to do what she already does well, and whether she'll still see the numbers."
That answer tells Priya almost everything. Lin's likely concern is about control and value, not price. And Joel has just told Priya what Lin will be weighing up, which means Priya can help.
There are two ways to help, and you should offer both.
The first is to meet the other person together. "Would it help if the three of us had twenty minutes, so Lin can ask her own questions?" A short meeting lets the other person hear it first-hand and raise their own concerns with someone who can answer them. A decision made after that meeting is better informed than one made from a description over dinner.
The second, if a meeting is not possible, is a one-page summary written for the other person. It covers the situation, the options, your recommendation and the next step, like the proposal you wrote in lesson 2.4, Write a one-page proposal, but written with their concerns in mind. For Lin, Priya adds two lines: that the weekly report means Lin will see each outlet's numbers every Monday, and that the Sunday hours she spends now are part of the cost Joel calculated.
Hafiz faced the same objection at a larger scale with Rachel's firm. Rachel needed Kelvin, the director, and the finance manager. Hafiz offered a meeting with Kelvin and wrote a short note for finance comparing the cost of the problem with the price, as you saw in lesson 4.2, Listen, clarify, respond, confirm.
Before you leave, ask: "When you talk to Lin, what will you recommend?" This question is one of the most useful in the whole course.
The answer tells you where the buyer really stands. If Joel says, "I'll tell her I think we should do option two," he is on your side and the other conversation is about bringing Lin along. If he says, "I'll just lay out the options and see what she thinks," he may not be convinced himself, and "check with my wife" might be covering his own doubt. That is worth exploring now, using the clarify step: "It sounds like you're not completely sure yourself. What's holding you back?"
Joel says he will recommend option two, but he is not sure Lin will agree to paying for something she has always done herself. That is honest, and it gives Priya a clear reason to offer the meeting.
End by agreeing two dates: when the buyer will talk to the other person, and when you will follow up.
"When do you think you'll have a chance to talk it through with Lin?" Joel says Sunday. "Then shall I call you on Tuesday to hear how it went, and to set up the three of us meeting if that would help?" Joel agrees. Priya sends a short message that evening confirming Tuesday, and attaches the one-page summary for Lin.
Now the follow-up has a purpose and a date the buyer chose. It is not a chase. It is the next step you agreed. Lesson 7.3, Follow up after a proposal by adding something, builds on this.
In a financial advice setting the same steps apply. When a client says they need to talk to their spouse, offering a joint meeting is often the most useful thing an adviser can do, because a household decision made by both partners together tends to hold.
For the activity below, think of a live deal where someone other than your main contact will have a say.
Write the questions and the offer you will make when a buyer needs to check with someone else, and draft the one-page summary you would give them.
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