All across the world salesmen are finding it more difficult to get business. It has also become a bigger challenge to identify the decision maker.

Normally in buoyant economic conditions you will find the decisions being made at lower levels & reverse happens during challenging times.

So identifying the right person, who will give go ahead for the order is very crucial. In difficult times the salesman needs to analyse the actions of the individuals he comes in contact, during the sales process. Understanding the actions of these individuals, will help him to make better decisions on how to prioritize. It will also help to make a reasonably confident forecast of the business expected.

So to identify the decision maker, Dear salesman,you need to ask yourself the following five questions;

1. Are the individuals involved in the buying process provide open and honest communication?
2. Do they involve more people(users, others affected by the purchase decision etc.)?
3. Is decision making process transparent?
4. Will you get access to the decision makers?
5. Can they commit a date (& not a quarter !) for releasing the order?

If you get "NO" to these questions, buyer is most probably not yet ready to make the decision. Or its possible you are meeting wrong people.

It's time to review your strategy. If the buyer is not committed to the next step in the buying process, in difficult times like these, its better to invest your resources elsewhere.