This topic, learning to identify the political structure of your prospects within an organization, will be very relevant and helpful to all B2B sales reps, especially in our current virtual selling climate. 

If you prefer to take this on the go and listen to a conversation on the topic, feel free to check out sALES with ASLAN podcast episode 36:

What do we mean by “political” and “political structure?”

Think about the formal organizational chart of a company: you have the CEO, their direct reports, their reports, etc., showing the hierarchy and outlining who reports to who. But the reality is, decisions are not made based solely on that hierarchy. Companies are a lot more complex, organic and human than that. 

Our CEO, Tom Stanfill, uses the analogy of a high school lunchroom to illustrate the decision-making hierarchy and structure of an organization:

“Certain people have more ‘power’ than others, certain people always ‘sit together,’ and the bottom line is that rank doesn’t equal influence. There are politics at play that determine who has the most power, who listens to whom, and who’s connected to whom. And if you don’t understand the politics, then you are in jeopardy of losing. The most powerful person, the person with the most influence, will ultimately determine the decision drivers and ultimately determine what gets done and who gets chosen.”

While you may not like politics or want to “play the game,” politics are in fact at work. You can’t just rely on the organizational chart to determine who is calling the shots. 

Rank Does Not Equal Influence

A perfect illustration of this principle at work comes from the 2011 movie Moneyball. At one point in the film (which is based on a true story) Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), GM of the Oakland A’s, is trying and failing to make several player trades with the Cleaveland Indians. He is thwarted by a seemingly insignificant intern, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). 

In this scene, Beane pumps Peter Brand for information on who he is and how he has influence over the Cleveland baseball team’s management. The general manager of the team should, in theory, have the most power and influence over decision-making. But Jonah Hill’s character, a lowly analyst, seems to be calling the shots in the meeting. We won’t give away any spoilers, you’ll have to check out the film to find out why. 

But this is a great example of politics at play within an organization.

Why This Matters 

If you simply follow the intended path of advancement laid out by the organization itself, you’re going to end up working with who they want you to work with: an evaluator. This is someone who represents the decision-maker, but will not make the final call. 

Their involvement in the decision only goes so far as vetting vendors, sifting through information, and culling down the list of potential partners/suppliers to a select few for the decision maker to choose between. They are the people that make it happen, but they don’t determine what happens. 

Why does this matter to us as salespeople?

Because if you sell something (or are recommending something) different than exactly what the evaluator is looking for, you will always lose. You may have (or be able to offer) what they are directly asking for, but you know it’s not what they actually need to solve their problem. 

The issue is that the evaluator’s main focus is to fulfill the criteria that has been set by someone else (the decision-maker); and if you’re not talking to the person who has set the criteria, you can’t change the criteria, in order to help them ultimately make a better decision. 

Again, if you’re talking to the evaluator, and what you sell doesn’t match their criteria, you will lose. You may be able to stay in the game by changing what you’re offering/recommending or lowering your price, but otherwise you will lose. 

The key is to get to the decision maker in order to go through Discovery and help them refine their criteria, while discussing their projects and goals, and ultimately making the recommendation that is best for everyone  (not just based on the criteria given to the evaluator for vetting purposes). 

Check out minute 11:05 of the podcast for two great, real life examples of working with an evaluator.

Key Players in the Political Structure

We’ve touched on these so far, but to summarize the roles to be looking for and paying attention to, let’s cover them one by one.

• Decision maker(s) 

This is the person (or team/ committee), who is in the number one role, the position of power, the ultimate authority, who will actually have the budget and make the final decision. 

• Influencers

There are multiple types of influencers: people that are simply trusted by the decision maker, technical people, the economics people, who all have sway and input. 

Pay attention to the influencers. They are the people that “whisper” in the decision-makers’ ear. It’s important to look at and identify every influencer. Take stock of how they relate to you/ your solution: positive, negative, or neutral. Make an effort to move each of them closer to positive. 

• Evaluator(s)

It’s critical to identify this person because strategically, you should connect with the influencers and/or decision-maker before you talk to the evaluator. Often, if you start with the evaluator, you will get stuck there. But if you already have relationships formed with other key players, you’re much more likely to keep moving further and further into the process as you build those relationships. 

• Coach

Within the organization, this person wants you to win. This is a critical role and key player. The “coach” has medium to high influence with the decision maker and they are on your team, feeding you information that they’re not telling anyone else. They give you the back story, provide you with context, and sometimes even grant you access to the decision maker. 

• Insider

The insider is someone who is obviously within the organization, who is not part of the decision making process, but is providing you with information from the inside. 

Somebody who is easy to get access to and can tell you who is who. This person may share info about internal workings of the company and even informal criteria that may factor into the decision. 

One characteristic worth noting: this person usually is eager to give you this information because they experience the pain point or problem that you are going to solve. 

This player is an extremely valuable ally, especially at the beginning of the process. 

Wrapping it Up

Pay attention to these players, and use this knowledge to help inform who you reach out to and spend time with. Remember, rank does not equal influence. 

We hope that learning to identify the political structure of your prospects, even virtually, within an organization will be greatly useful to all of you B2B salespeople. 

What’s Next?

In the meantime, if your team is struggling to make the transition to virtual selling, click here for our new program. 

We would be happy to understand your challenges and see if we can help. ASLAN started as an inside sales training company in 1996, working to help sales teams overcome the very same challenges we are all facing today.

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ASLAN teaches sellers an easier, better way to gain access & influence unreceptive customers, by eliminating the hard sell.