It has been my experience that if you convince the customer that you are there to help them, you often can get through to the decision-maker. You will be more successful if you know your product, your competition’s product (if any) and any particular selling features your product has over the competition. You should also have a good knowledge of the customer’s product and the best way to apply your product to theirs.

Quite surprisingly, the best way to get to know the decision-maker is when the customer has some type of problem with a product you or the competition sells to the customer. In a recent article about Rahm Emmanual, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, he was reported to have said, “Never waste a crisis.” If you are able to solve the problem in an acceptable and timely manner, you will make an ally of any customer personally involved, including the decision maker. As a result, they will come to you for any problems they think your products might solve.

On a recent long-term problem we were able to solve, the customer was so impressed with the quality procedure used to resolve the problem that they are now recommending this process to other suppliers that have problems.

I have also had a great deal of success either meeting decision makers at trade shows or getting their names and phone numbers. In many cases, exhibitors will have sales and marketing people manning the booth. If these people are approached during off-peak times, they can be very helpful. They sometimes will point out existing problems and/or features that they need added to their machine. In many cases, the Chief Engineers of our own principals have come to a show looking for specific solutions and/or to check out the competition. A number of times, we have even been able to exploit flaws found in competitive products.

In one particular instance, we were able to point out an improvement to a marketing manager’s product in a show booth. She pushed sample orders through purchasing and engineering, and we ultimately became the preferred supplier.

Finally, when a customer calls for assistance on a new application, take along an application data sheet (usually provided by your principals). By going over the application data, you may touch on a specification or feature that the customer has not considered. In most cases, decision-makers will seek assistance from those people that have helped them in the past.