Your strategic analysis also needs to ensure that confirmation of the client’s status is made with the appropriate individual(s), which means you have to understand the organization and the individual’s role/influence in the organization. In my 25+ years in sales/sales management, one of my hardest tasks was herding sales teams to identify and focus on individuals that would confirm whether a company was a “Prospect” or a “Dream Client”. It was a constant effort to get the salesperson to go beyond engaging with individuals who told them what they wanted to hear and communicate with those who had the authority to truly validate “Dream Client” status.

Shameless plug here but I recently developed an app for the iPhone (“OrgChart”) to give salespeople a quick way to create Organization Charts, tag key decision roles, and quickly and dynamically modify the organization as roles change. By giving a salesperson an easy way to map-out the organization (and making it readily available), they are more conscious about connecting with the right individuals and the organization dynamics that impact strategic sales engagements. In the end, the information for which the decision is to be based is only as good as the (authoritative) source.

Thanks again, for the great post.