Twelve Must-Have Conversations: Steve Schiffman

How many people do you aim to talk to when researching a prospect for a presentation? One? Three? Five? If any of those numbers sound about right, you’ve got a long way to go, says sales training veteran Stephen Schiffman in his book, Sales Presentation Techniques (Adams Media, 2007). To get the best possible feel for the problems a prospect is facing, he urges you talk to 12 people in that company.

Schiffman calls it “The Power of 12” and says aiming for this number has three major benefits:

1) the more people you see, the more firsthand information you’ll get that will be useful in your research

2) speaking to a dozen employees of a company gives you the opportunity to build support for your product or service at various levels within the organization

3) you may well uncover additional sales opportunities through these discussions.

Schiffman learned firsthand about benefit #3 last year. Schiffman had been hired to create a training program for the 15-person sales staff of a glass manufacturer. During an early meeting with the CEO of this company, Schiffman asked if there were a few people he might talk to so he could “better understand what they do and develop a program for them.” The CEO pointed Schiffman to the VPs of domestic and international sales, who led him to a technical person, who in turn led him to the manufacturing facility where Schiffman learned about a standalone product that was sold separately through a network of 15 distributors and 1,000 dealers. The product wasn’t on the Web site and Schiffman wouldn’t have known about it had he not sought to talk to 12 people.

Ultimately, Schiffman negotiated a deal to develop a sales training program that included not only the original 15 reps but the 15 distributors and 1,000 dealers as well. This story drives home another important point: when you talk to people, try to get below the executive level as much as possible. You’ll find the information you get from the people in the “trenches” gives you a more accurate picture of what’s going on at an organization than you’ll get from the corner offices. Or as Schiffman puts it more bluntly: “People in the trenches know more and are more honest than their bosses.”

Finally, keep in mind that you’re not always going to get to talk to 12 people. Sometimes you might speak with only eight or 10. But the point is that you should always shoot for 12 because the more people you see, the more complete a picture of the company and its situation, issues, and challenges you’ll be able to draw. “Through The Power of 12, I’ve not only learned things that made for a stronger presentation and sales pitch, but I’ve also learned where the power resides,” says Schiffman. “It isn’t always where you think it is.”