Five tips for getting stakeholders aligned
By: Logan Hoffman
Tags: Design, Sales, Business Development

can be a long road from a lead’s initial interest to the close of a deal, and taking a deal all the way to the closing meeting only to watch it fall apart can be excruciating.

Fortunately, as a salesperson, you can avoid a tragic ending if you get stakeholder buy-in early. Whether you’re working directly with the decision maker, or several stakeholders are involved in the project, you can follow these steps to keep your deal on the right path.

1. Communicate directly

Nothing is worse than playing a game of telephone when you’re trying to close on a project with multiple stakeholders or decision makers.

To avoid mixed messages or the sharing of impartial information, enlist your contact to help you get all stakeholders in the same room (or on the same conference call) so that you are sharing information just once.

Confident closers know their product or service is valuable, and may even decide not to meet with a potential client unless everyone is present. After all, a prospective client who isn’t willing to get all decision makers in one place is throwing up two very big red flags:

They’re disorganized. If the issue is that the prospective client simply isn’t organized enough to get everyone there, that’s a sign that you may be entering into a project with a company that may not be ready to work with an organized, process-driven team. Unorganized clients slow down timelines, re-negotiate project scope, and even question the process. Consider whether this really is an organization you want to work with. They’re not ready. If your contact isn’t willing to gather all decision makers in one place, then the prospective client is not ready to close. Much of the time the contact is still trying to determine if she thinks you are the right fit for the project and will not go to bat for you with others in her organization until that internal conflict is resolved. If you find yourself in this situation, take a step back and ask yourself if you are trying to close the deal too quickly. If so, slow down and work on building the relationship. Nothing kills a prospective deal as quickly as a pushy salesperson.

2. Understand their needs

Every stakeholder brings their own agenda and expectations to a new project. While it would be nice to think that every project team has discussed all expectations and worked out any potential conflicts before approaching you about a project, this usually doesn’t happen.

In order to get buy-in from all stakeholders you must understand their perspectives and expectations, not just assume you know what they want. Ask questions of each team member. Where you see potential conflicts, approach it head on with the goal of resolving these conflicts into win-win situations for everyone.

For teams of stakeholders that seem very fractured or unsure of what they are looking for, you should approach them with the idea of pursuing a funded Discovery to uncover their real needs, both from their perspective as well as the perspective of their end users.

If you’re not sure what an effective Discovery looks like, check out Madison Ave. Collective’s free guide to Discovery.

3. Demonstrate expertise and ability to do good work

Your firm begins demonstrating expertise and ability to a prospective client with the first impression, whether that is the first visit to your website, an email from a trusted referral, or the conversation you created on that initial cold call.

That first impression, however, is often forgotten by the time you get to the closing meeting. Stakeholders on projects of any size always have anxiety over whether they are pursuing the right project, choosing the right agency to work with, or even whether they should pursue this project at all. Ease this anxiety and uncertainty by showing them that the project they are about to undertake with your firm is nothing new to you. Have work samples to share with them of similar projects you’ve worked on, and talk to them about what makes your firm’s process an iron-clad recipe for success.

4. Demonstrate value in the project

Budget is always a hot button topic. The quickest way to show a client that the budget is realistic and worth spending is to demonstrate a return on the investment. Sometimes this can come in the form of metrics from past projects you’ve worked on, like an increase in site traffic or views of a social media campaign. Others may prefer to see cold hard dollar signs showing them how the project will affect the company’s bottom line.

If you feel that you have developed a fair and competitive estimate for the work, but face push-back from the prospective client, hold strong to your estimate, especially if it fits within the budget figures they’ve given you in previous discussions. While there are prospective clients out there who will try to bully you into a better rate, remember that your work has value that is established by both your work’s quality and by the market. If your work is of high quality, then by giving in to these bullying tactics you may be undercutting your own value in the market in the long run.

If you have a prospective client that you know is budget-sensitive, consider developing a phased proposal for closing, where “phase 1” meets all the client’s basic needs (and maybe a few wants), comes in solidly under budget, and is developed in a way that makes it easily scalable. Phases two and possibly three meet the client’s biggest want, help them to plan and budget effectively, and hopefully creates several more projects for your future project pipeline.

5. Highlight their role (and value) in the process

Some stakeholders have trouble letting go of control. If you do a good job asking the right questions in point 2, understanding their needs, you will identify these individuals early. With these people, highlighting how they will play an important role in helping to guide and develop the project can be a crucial tool for getting their buy-in.

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Effectively implementing these five efforts will help you close more deals, identify issues before they become problems in the project itself, and even eliminate clients you don’t really want (and just don’t know it yet!)

Share your own tips for getting buy-in from stakeholders in the comments!