How to Identify Gatekeepers, Decision Makers, Influencers, & Blockers

今天的销售人员 - 尤其是B2B和基于帐户的销售人员— need to know more about their prospects before conducting outreach. And, chances are, they'll need to know someone other than the decision maker pretty well.

In days of old, salespeople could call the C-suite, marketing could email them, and it was much easier to gain access to the decision maker. Now, C-suites can isolate themselves with caller ID, email filters, and assistants. Salespeople can't ignore the influencer or "call above" them. But how do you spot an influencer from a stop-gap or achampion来自阻滞剂？一旦您确定了这些人，您将如何吸引这些人？

这里有几种方法来确定您与之交谈的潜在客户。他们会帮助您进行销售或在不知不觉中阻止您与合适的人交谈吗？时间 - 这些技巧 - 将帮助您发现答案。

确定销售线索

The gatekeeper

The gatekeeper is usually an executive assistant or associate to the decision maker. If the gatekeeper is an executive assistant, you should know immediately by their title. If they don't hold the title but are working in an assistant's capacity, ask questions like, "您是否与[执行名称]紧密合作？“ 或者， ”您戴了很多帽子，如何优先考虑一天？“

几个小时后，当您知道他们的助手不存在时，可能很容易致电决策者。这对于建立初始联系是可以的，但是避免在他们的看门人身上工作 - 他们通常是决策者的重要合作伙伴。在某些情况下，工作是有益的withthe gatekeeper so you can build trust with them and have them vouch for you with the decision-maker.

输入，看门人营销。

一旦确定了看门人，这里就有一些策略可以帮助您建立对他们的信任。

如何与看门人互动

1. Ask meaningful questions

A gatekeeper can be a valuable ally. By talking directly to the individual instead of immediately asking to be passed off to leadership and expressing genuine interest in getting to know their organization and challenges, you can gain valuable insight that can help you make the sale down the line.

以下是一些问题和谈话要点，您可以尝试建立信任并了解有关您的前景的更多信息：

• “我看到您的公司正在准备raybet电子竞技推出XYZ产品。这种经历如何？”
• “您的组织在启动XYZ时面临哪些挑战？”
• “我的一个以前的客户遇到了类似的挑战。我很高兴与您讨论对他们有用的解决方案。”

Before speaking to the contact, do your research to learn more about their role at the company (LinkedIn is a great place to start). This will give you some background on who they are and how they work with the decision-maker you are trying to reach.

The gatekeeper is likely aware of their boss' pain points, and your solution might also benefit them. Talk to them as you would the decision-maker, and ask their advice on the best way to approach their manager when it's time.

2. Connect on social media

Social selling techniquesshouldn’t only be directed at decision-makers. Gatekeepers can be valuable social media connections as well. Research who the gatekeepers are supporting the decision-makers you would like to get in touch with and engage with their content.

例如，当您看到守门人共享与公司或工作范围相关的内容时，请尝试留下深思熟虑的评论，感谢他们分享或提供您对该主题的想法。raybet电子竞技

Creating a sense of familiarity with them goes a long way in building trust and working with them to close a sale.

3.在网络中找到共同的连接

在研究守门人和决策者时，请检查您是否有一个共同的联系，可以为您进行介绍。通过第三方介绍是建立信誉的好方法，它可以帮助您纯粹被视为律师。

与他们合作作为有价值的伙伴，并在最终与决策者接触时看到股息支出。

影响者

影响者传统上，是一名初级雇员，在向他们的上级进行简报之前，他被要求研究。他们没有预算或权力来做出最终决定，但他们确实有权影响决策者。影响者通常是您在公司的主要联系点，他们会吸引适当的raybet电子竞技利益相关者（例如财务或IT）在整个销售过程中。

找出答案您的影响者真正拥有多少力量, ask questions like, "你以前做过吗？“”您是否有信心决策者会遵循您的建议？“ 和 ”您的团队中是否有人会劫持我们的对话？“

The answers to these questions tell you how experienced your influencer is in presenting product/service solutions to the decision maker, and it signals how much help you'll need to offer throughout the process.

决策者

这通常是C-Suite；签署支票，自行重新分配预算的人，并说“yes“没有与任何人交往。而且，虽然并不常见，但决策者有时会进行研究。当发生这种情况时，充分利用了情况并保持近距离。

Often, the decision maker delegates the sales process to an influencer until it's further along. In this case, work with the influencer, but keep the CEO in the loop. Show you're happy to work with their team, but regularly check in with them.

Access to unlimited content has put the buyer in control of the sales process. Your account-based sales strategy needs to adjust to fit the changing behavior with your prospects, and有影响力的人现在必须赢得业务。如果你忽视它们,missing an opportunity.

The Influencer vs. the Decision Maker

影响者is usually a junior employee asked to research solutions for their department or company. Influencers don't have budget or authority to make a final decision, but they can impact the outcome

决策者通常是负责最终决定的高管。他们很少参与销售过程的研究或审查阶段。相反，影响者与做出选择的决策者分享了他们的研究和建议。

决策者同义词

当提到决策者时，他们可能会根据所工作的公司具有不同的头衔或描述。raybet电子竞技以下是一些不同的术语，可以用来描述它们，具体取决于它们的角色。

• 经理
• 管理人员
• Director
• Managing Director
• 副总裁（副总裁）

自称决策者

自称决策者是有毒的前景。如果他们提供的未经请求的信息，例如”I make X amount of money“，”我在这里携带很多重量，“ 或者 ”首席执行官和我是伙伴，“chances are, this person has little influence and might be wasting your time.

Whether it's intentional or not, they're gating you from the rest of the internal purchasing process. Pay attention to those volunteering too much information about their authority.

问这个有影响力的人与首席执行官会见一次，因为强大的影响者经常会见高管。并找出他们带入公司的其他产品/服务以及该过程的工作原理。raybet电子竞技如果他们以前没有采购解决方案或不经常使用C套件，请找到另一个联系。

很多时候，销售人员对决策者有自己的定义，但可能与前景不符。根据潜在客户的定义，他们是决策者，因为他们决定推荐给C套件。这个人实际上是推荐人。

在这种情况下，前景没有欺骗性。不要驳回推荐人，因为它们对销售非常有价值。询问为什么他们正在研究解决方案，谁要求他们这样做。他们的答案将告诉您真正的决策者是谁。

阻止者

通常，阻滞剂具有影响者的所有品质。他们是初中或中级，负责为其团队或公司研究解决方案，是您的主要联系方式和公司的通信来源。raybet电子竞技

但是，最终，阻止者将停止接听电话。您的电子邮件将无法打开，交易将停滞不前。您已经被鬼魂：阻滞剂的专业。

这里重要的是要辨别何时该离开公司，以及什么时候该简单地在那里找到新的潜在客户。raybet电子竞技如果您认为您正在与Blocker交谈，并且业务中的其他人应该听到您要说的话 - 进行研究。

Track the company's hiring on LinkedIn to see when someone on a relevant team starts. Then, reach out to them to see if they'd be interested in hearing about your solution. Strike up a relationship with an executive and use that as leverage to engage someone new at the company.

或只是使用LinkedIn来追踪团队中的其他人并说：“I've been speaking with a colleague of yours about your need to lower export costs on overseas shipments. It seems like you might be the more appropriate person to speak with. Do you have a few minutes this week to jump on a call?“

确定与谁交谈以及需要与谁交谈是销售过程的关键部分。将这些问题纳入您的策略，并与您在潜在客户公司中与您交谈的每个人找到更多成功。raybet电子竞技

要了解更多信息，请查看keys to selling the Fortune 500 companies下一个。

Originally published Nov 1, 2019 6:03:00 PM, updated May 08 2020