How to Get Access to Decision Makers

What can SMBs do to get access to decision-makers?

Getting found early is hugely important. One of the biggest challenges involved when it comes to getting found early is it is as if there is this overriding feeling. By the time prospects are looped into the conversation, so much of the sales process and buyer’s journey has already taken place without them.When the sales process and buyer's journey have already taken place, it is not a fun place to be. If your business is struggling when it comes to closing, you are not alone. Many businesses express the same frustration when they are not found early:

• “Every single deal comes down to price; I never get in early enough to explain our real value, this sucks!”

The above predicament is not a fun way to grow a business or engage with other businesses.

To access decision-makers you must focus on:

• Buyer personas
• Content creation
• Content distribution
• Your sales funnel 

Buyer Personas

First and foremost, it comes down to understanding who these business owners or executives are—which we call the framework of a buyer persona.

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional depiction of an ideal client based on real data and some select educated speculation, not guessing; it must be based on real data.

Buyer personas power everything going forward; nothing should be done with marketing, sales, product development, service delivery, or growing channel programs until you have a really good handle on who exactly is that decision-maker or buyer persona.

Most SMBs start with two-to-three buyer personas, with the number increasing a little more over time. However, it is really important to be super specific.

Remember, a manager is not going to be concerned with the same things as a CIO, and a CIO will not be concerned with the same things as a CFO or CEO because:

• They read different blogs
• They belong to different LinkedIn groups
• They go to different conferences
• They belong to different associations
• They have different goals, plans, and challenges
• They have different criteria for what can get them a promotion
• They have different criteria for what can get them fired
• They have different things they worry about at 2 o’clock in the morning
• They use different terminology to search for information    

Educational Content

Once you understand who your buyer personas are, gain access to decision-makers by spending half of your efforts on creating helpful, educational content. The other half of your efforts need to be spent on the distribution of content.   

Think about the famous quote from the movie ‘Field of Dreams,’ “If you build it, they will come.” If you write a great piece of content, they will not come by themselves unless you have a massive distribution plan.

When you are creating your buyer personas, it is critical you understand where it is they hang out so that when you have a great piece of content such as an eBook, event, or webinar, you know where to go to get the right eyes in front of it.  

Sales Funnel

Semi-relevant is no longer good enough in today’s society with so much competition for people's attention. With declining attention spans and so many people multitasking, you have to be super relevant with your plan, and your content should cover the entire sales funnel.

Attracting the right buyer is no longer enough. You must be able to convert them to a lead and use additional content in their context and where they are in the buyer’s journey to accelerate them into being sales-ready.

The Bottom Line

You must be able to cover your entire sales funnel; you cannot just dabble in blogging, social media, search, or pay-per-click. Calculate where your buyer personas are to be hyper-relevant and grab the attention of the right decision-makers.

Is your sales team attracting the right decision-makers to your business? Let us know in the Comments below.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can access the right decision makers through buyer persona research and educational content, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.