Who is the Decision-Maker?

Shortly after Joel and I got married, his lemon-of-a-junker car finally gave up the ghost:  a bad referral from his family's Manchester, Vermont network. Since we lived in North Chatham, Columbia County, and we worked in diametrically opposite directions (me in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, at General Electric Aerospace and Joel in Albany, New York, at Crossgates Mall, as Manager / Head Picture-Framer at Deck the Walls), a new car purchase became a priority for our family, as car-pooling was clearly not an option.

After some quick and thorough research courtesy of Consumer Reports, that year's Mitsubishi mini-SUV became our purchase goal, as it more than met our reliability and functional needs.  We journeyed from our rural rental house into the outskirts of the Brunswick section of Troy, NY and paid a visit to the dealer on Route 7.

We entered the dealership, and examined the floor model of our intended car purchase.  An older, stouter gentlemen with glasses, salt-and-pepper hair (tie-less and blazer-less, a good sign for Joel) made eye contact with us, put down his book and approached us.  That is, he made eye contact with me:  Joel purposely kept his Ray-Bans on, looking like a cross between Elwood Blues and the sax player from The Blues Brothers.  His contribution to our purchase negotiations:  the silent and vaguely forbidding bad cop.  Joel took a quick glance at the cover of the salesman's book:  it was an Arthur C. Clarke book.  "That's a good sign," Joel noted softly to me.

I nodded, still a bit wary. Buying a car was always a Women's Studies 101 field trip for me.  At best, it usually started out with an obnoxious elevator visual evaluation of me from the aloof sales guy, and then the standard "Where's your father / boyfriend / husband to help you with this?"

The salesman extended his hand to both of us.  "Hi folks, what can I do for you today?"  I pointed at the mini-SUV.  "We're interested in this model, for the right price." I replied.  "Great! Let's sit down," he said, gesturing to the two chairs in front of his desk.  We settled in the chairs.

The salesman looked at both of us, and then asked a brilliant question:  "Please let me know who will be signing the loan paperwork:  both of you, or one of you?  I'd like to direct my discussion to the person who will actually buy the car."  Joel and I grinned at each other, and then at the salesman:  he had us at hello.  "It's me,"  I replied.  "Great," the salesman replied, pulling out the paperwork.  "Let's get started."  We got a great price, and they even took the dead lemon as a trade-in, towing it to the dealership for us.  The Mitsubishi lasted 11 years, a great buy.

Do you know who the decision-maker is when you:

• Interview for a job? (Hint:  unless you're interviewing for a job in the Human Resources Department, it's not HR);
• Make an appointment with a new company as a potential sales prospect?
• Refer contacts in your network to potential business?
• Refer mentees in your network to potential employers?
• Network for potential business, contract and employment referrals?
• Get an appointment with a company without posted job openings but who you know needs your skills and experience as an employee badly enough to hire you virtually on the spot?
• Are the customer and need your vendor to resolve an issue that is not clearly dictated by established policy?

And if you don't know:  do you take the extra step and ask who the decision-maker is?

As was the experience of our sage car salesman:  identifying the decision-maker makes the difference between closing (or losing) the sale.

How many decision-makers are on your call / meeting list this week?