For years I had determined that title was not necessarily an accurate clue as to the power a person possessed. Yet, it was more of a gut feeling rather than an objective fact. So, I looked for an objective source to validate this feeling about decision makers.
The most common methods used by b2b sales people is to find a title within the organization that appears to be a match to the authority needed to buy or budget for your solution. Again, not true all the time. There are many variables used to make this guess plausible for us.
Variables we commonly look at include numbers of people reporting to this person or titles of others reporting directly to this person. Who does this person report to? Other factors such as length of time with the company have been used. And, the old catch all – advice from others who sell to this organization.
Yet, there is a key factor to uncover early in the discussions with any titled individual to uncover their true level of power. This factor is