by Mark S.A. Smith

Selling mobility solutions isn’t like selling other types of technology. There isn’t just one decision-maker. The budget and approval come from five different sources, each with different priorities and criteria. So let’s explore who’s involved in setting mobility priorities and how to achieve consensus to make the deal work over the long haul.

Here are the five players in the mobility sale:

• The Boss (e.g. CEO, owner, managing director) looks for more productivity and decreased risks while moving the team toward the company mission.
• The Money Maven (e.g. CFO, purchasing, comptroller) seeks cash flow and cost improvements.
• The IT Pro (e.g. CIO, CTO) has to interface with business applications and databases, secure them and be liable for it all.
• The Supervisor (e.g. sales manager, route manager) drives staff to complete the company mission.
• The User e.g. (sales person, customer service person, route driver) must accomplish the company mission.

For your solution to gain wide acceptance and deep penetration, all five players need to be satisfied. Here’s how.
Where you have a relationship, start with the supervisor. This person has a specific mission to accomplish, such as speed the ordering process, better manage inventory or accelerate deliveries. You must understand the mission and success metrics to propose the best solution.

Next, interview the user. If you don’t have a relationship with the supervisor, start here. Understand what the user needs to successfully execute the mission. Talk with the top performers to clone their best practices. Interview the poorest performers to identify how to improve the situation and make them more successful. Watch for barriers to mobility adoption that can kill the project, along with hidden opportunities to multiply success such as automatic cross-selling based on excessive inventory, bar coding, and automatic data verification. If this is a new account, discuss what you’ve discovered with the supervisor, positioning yourself as a trusted advisor.

Next check with the boss to confirm the mission and success metrics. You must understand how the project’s success will be measured, including anticipated ROI. You might want to share what you’ve learned from talking with the users, illustrating you understand their business issues.

Then talk with the IT pro, since any concerns he or she has will stall the project. You might ask, “What do you need to have guaranteed to proceed?” This doesn’t mean you’ll guarantee it, but the question will uncover any potential barriers to solve to move forward.

And after you round up support from these players, talk with the Money Maven about cash flow improvements and ROI calculations to garner support.

Now, create your action plan based on what you’ve learned from the five players, and present it with the supervisor to the boss.

When you understand and satisfy the requirements of all five players, you’ll own the account and close the deal.  Remember that the basic player criteria will remain the same, but the implementation details will continually change.

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© 2009 Mark S.A. Smith. All rights reserved. First serial rights granted to Telecom Reseller.