Unavailable Power

Wouldn’t it be nice if prospects told you the amount of power they really hold in an organization? Well that happened today and I want to share an insightful discussion I had with a prospect:

“I’m wondering if you could point me in the right direction as I’ve been in touch with Lisa Track and Ingrid Breem in the past. Also does John Jones still report into them?”

“Lisa and Ingrid are your best bet, John is no longer with the organization”

“Okay, interesting , what about Julie and Tom?”

“Actually Julie is on maternity leave and Tom is my counterpart. We both report into Ingrid”

“Thanks, the puzzle is starting to make more sense, you’ve been so helpful. So your role is…?”

“I am in charge of the enablement group but we don’t have access to any budget, everything rolls up to Ingrid for final approval. We don’t have the power but just support Ingrid’s initiatives and manage the vendors.”

“You are so knowledgeable and helpful, I really appreciate it. What is the best way for me to reach Ingrid?”

“She is out the next few days and I know she will be in her office on Friday just catching up. If you would like to call her in the morning between 9:00-9:45 PST, I can let her know you’ll be calling her.”

“Perfect, I will call her at that time and in the meantime, can you prepare me with some key training initiatives she is working on at the present time?”

“Well ever since we started our new quarter, our new hires need a lot more focus because we are bringing another 30 in before the end of the year. That’s one of the projects I’m working on right now.”

“How far along are you in that area? What are you looking it? Evaluating?

So this conversation continues with this prospect. It is not a waster of time talking with Unvailable Power? Not at all, as long as you know when and how they can help.