Sell The People Who Can Buy

by Tom Hopkins

Many salespeople spend endless hours with people who can't say yes. In commercial/industrial/government sales, this is an ever-present problem. Typically, you can't walk in and talk to the person who is in charge. In many cases, you'll be told that no one individual will make the decision you seek, that all such decisions are the sole prerogative of the board of directors, trustees, or whatever. When you're told that, you'll almost always be given to understand that every member of the decision-making group is away and unavailable. In essence, they are an unreachable committee.

What you're hearing is the truth—it's just not all the truth. The committee exists. It meets regularly. It can make decisions. All important decisions are approved by it. And its members are, for all practical purposes, unavailable to you. Under the law, or in the by-laws, all the power in that organization is given to this group.

However, such unreachable committees rarely exercise any power that's important to you. They have it, but they don't use it because there's too much complexity and too little time. Willingly or not, the directors, trustees and various boards of this and that have to rely on the nameless gnomes in the backrooms for recommendations that they can only approve or disapprove. Of course, the gnomes are nameless only in the sense that the don't sign annual reports or get mentioned on cornerstones. But their signatures activate purchase orders.

There are few situations in sales that are more complex and easier to botch than the unreachable committee. In no other area will your sensitivity to small clues and the subtle nuances of power be better rewarded.

Organizations have purchasing procedures that involve several people, much time, more paperwork, and they all move through clearly defined and tidy channels in complete conformity to law and the dictates of their governing bodies or owners. That's the face the organization shows to the world, and it has the paperwork in its files to prove that everything has been done according to their books.

In reality, though, very little is done according to their book, and the real decisions are made outside the tidy channels. The paperwork to justify those decisions is then created after the event.

Flexibility is vital in these situations. Rigidity is dangerous to your success. Keep the ideas that follow in mind when you work with the unreachable committee situation and they'll frequently help you find your way—follow them blindly and they'll sometimes take you off the road and over the cliff.

• The gnomes in the backroom are insecure, and jealous of the power they wield at the whim of the committee. Make the gnome feel important. Never let a gnome suspect that you're anything but delighted that you can work with him instead of whoever has the title and the official authority.
• You have faith in the value and importance of your offering to that organization. You need that faith, but don't let it blind you to the fact that most of the unreachable committee will be too involved with their own pet projects to care very much about yours. Never hint that you'll try an end run around the gnome to the committee until you're willing to accept the gnome's enmity. Unless you can somehow reach the unreachable committee and sell it on your proposition (and by definition that's impossible, or at least impractical), you probably need the cooperation of the gnome to close that organization. Keep in mind from the first moment you think about selling to them.
• Make sure you're working with the right gnome, not some chair-warmer whose main job is getting rid of the salespeople the right gnome thinks he doesn't want to talk to.
• There are two kinds of gnomes: those who relish displaying their power by committing themselves, and those who'll never commit themselves. Never try to get an iron-bound commitment from a reluctant gnome—it can't be done. And the more you try, the worse you injure yourself.
• If you can't sell the gnome within a reasonable time, and if you think that organization is worth more of your time, try the end run. If you can't find a way to reach somebody on that unreachable committee through friends, political connections, or by direct and persistent pursuit, go over the gnome's head to anyone strong enough to push your proposition past him. You risk making an enemy of the gnome, but what do you have to lose? You've already lost—or failed to gain—his support. Now you have no way to go but up.

Adapted from How To Master the Art of Selling © 1982 by Tom Hopkins International, Inc.