Know Your Stakeholders

Caid Christiansen• October, 23 2015

In his book Foreword, Tom Monahan, CEO and chairman of best practice insight and technology company CEB, tells an interesting story.

The story involves a conversation Monahan had with the controller of a German multinational. The controller had started a project with an outside vendor to simplify and accelerate information flow through his company. He was all ready to go, and the project was slated to last only six months. Until, at the last minute, a new stakeholder arrived on scene and slowed everything down.

With the new stakeholder involved, the project was rescoped twice, suffered three delays, and ultimately delivered a fourth of the original business value.

This frustrating situation is all too common in B2B business deals today. And, as Forbes‘ Patrick Spenner comments, this stands for something larger: it’s very difficult for organizations today to make big decisions that demand change.

Spenner goes on to mention how CEB’s new book, The Challenger Customer, answers this question in detail. The book itself is a great read, but you need not read the whole thing to understand just how important it is to know the stakeholders in all your deals.

Without knowing who is involved in the decision and what they care about, you can’t create marketing content that speaks to their needs and problems.

Without knowing the stakeholders, you can’t possibly know or take advantage of the common language that unites them as a group.

Without understanding who’s involved in the purchasing decision, it’s also much more difficult for your sales and marketing teams to get on the same page about how they’ll hand off the customer and ensure that your product or solution is seen through to the end.

Ultimately, it’s as simple as this: if you’re not acutely aware of everyone involved in the decision-making process at the organization you’re selling to, you’re going to have a tough time selling anything.