Decision Influencer Mapping
Your buyer doesn't know who else has to be in the room — tell them on call one.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 85%
Clary separates the decision maker (the buyer persona — the individual who signs the PO) from the decision influencers (everyone whose sign-off they need). A Director of Marketing buying a technical marketing product may need budget approval from the CMO, sign-off from the CEO in a small company, and a security clearance from the CTO. The seller has seen this 50 times; the buyer may be doing it for the first time and has no idea. So on the first call you educate them: in our past 50 deals, these three roles had to be involved — bring them to the next call so we can get alignment. Clary is emphatic this isn't pushy: nobody wants to show up at work and look like an idiot, and buying is part of the buyer's job, so helping them buy better is genuine service. The payoff is sales velocity — a shorter cycle from first contact to close.
Origin
Clary built this from enterprise B2B tech sales, where sales velocity and sales cycle were tracked metrics and a missed stakeholder meant a dead quarter. He frames it as dovetailing into his broader thesis of what sales should be: 'sales is all about helping somebody buy... you are truly the consultant' — not just on the product, but on the whole buying process.
Core principles
- 01The decision maker signs; the decision influencers can veto. Both must be mapped.
- 02A first-time buyer has no idea who else in their org needs to sign off — you do, from your last 50 deals.
- 03Educating the buyer on their own buying process compresses sales velocity.
- 04Sales is helping somebody buy, not pushing a product.
- 05Nobody wants to look like an idiot at work — helping them not to is the whole job.
How to run it
- 1
Separate decision maker from decision influencers
The decision maker is your buyer persona — the individual signing the PO. Decision influencers are everyone whose approval they need. Map both roles before the first call.
Watch out If you're only talking to an influencer, you don't have a deal — you have a conversation.
- 2
Derive the influencer set from your deal history
Look at your past 50 deals and list which roles had to be in the room. Clary's worked example: Director of Marketing buys, CMO approves budget, CEO signs off in a small company, CTO clears security.
- 3
Educate the buyer on their own process
On the first call, say it plainly: in our past 50 deals, these three people had to be involved in this conversation. The buyer genuinely doesn't know this if it's their first purchase.
Pro tip Frame it as making their job easier, because it does — it's why it lands as helpful rather than pushy.
Watch out Delivered as a demand rather than a service, this reads as pressure and backfires.
- 4
Get them on the next call
Ask the buyer to bring the influencers to the next call so you can get alignment across the key stakeholders in one pass rather than serially.
- 5
Pre-empt the known friction
Educate them on why companies have struggled to buy your product before — switching costs, confusing legal terms, whatever it is. Surface it early rather than letting it ambush the close.
Pro tip This is the consultant move: you're advising on the whole process, not just the product.
In the wild
The buyer persona and decision maker is a Director of Marketing purchasing a technical marketing product. But they need budget sign-off from the CMO, sign-off from the CEO because it's a small company, and clearance from the CTO to confirm there are no security issues. As a first-time buyer, the Director doesn't know any of this.
→ The seller who names all three on call one and asks for them on call two gets alignment in a single pass instead of discovering the CTO's security veto weeks later.
Common mistakes
Selling to a decision influencer as though they can sign
You run a full cycle with someone who can only say no, and discover late that the actual buyer was never in the conversation.
Assuming the buyer knows their own buying process
A first-time buyer has no map. You've done it 50 times; withholding that map slows the deal and leaves them exposed.
Reading stakeholder education as pushiness
Sellers avoid the conversation out of politeness. But buying is part of the buyer's job and nobody wants to look like an idiot — helping them is service, not pressure.
Is it for you?
Best for
B2B and enterprise sellers running multi-stakeholder deals with a defined buying committee.
Not ideal for
Single-buyer transactional sales where the person on the call is the only person involved.
From the transcript
“So you have your decision maker and your decision influencers.”
“In the first call, you're gonna be educating them and you're gonna be saying, Hey, listen, in our past 50 deals, these three people had…”
“Sales is all about helping somebody buy. It's not about pushing a product, it's helping somebody buy better, helping somebody buy easier. You are truly…”
From the episode
Scott D. Clary: Sales Strategies That Close Deals
Scott D. Clary