What does MAN stand for? (Money, Authority and Need)

 
When you prospect over the telephone do you always get stuck with the people who can never make the decision?

You’re probably not qualifying hard enough.

Instead, you might be making more and more cold calls and hoping some mud will stick. You think that persistence alone will make up for your lack of qualifying.

It won’t. Instead, it’s time to qualify a little harder and you can do so by using the acronym: MAN.

 

What does MAN stand for?

This handy little aide mémoire stands for Money, Authority, Need and refers to the three most useful types of contacts you might make:

• Money – There is a budget in place and money available for the sort of product or service you’re selling. Individuals who are qualified to answer this might include financial officers, budget holders, and procurement leads.
• Authority – this is an individual in charge of deciding budget priorities or anyone else with some seniority who can direct procurement strategy. They could be as senior as Sales Director or a member of the C-suite, just someone with budget-setting responsibility within their department.
• Need – this is anyone who will directly benefit from your product or service because they’ll be actively using it. The twist is, that they may not know that they need what you’re selling, so you may have to convince them.

Ideally, you’ll find you’re talking to someone with two or even all three of the above qualities. If that’s the case, you’ve hit the jackpot, so press on!

And if the individual you’re talking to has none of the above, you’re probably not going to get very far unless you can convince them to transfer the call to someone else.

Qualifying Prospects with MAN

Now that we know what MAN stands for, how do you use it to qualify leads when prospecting?

Let’s take this aspect by aspect.

Money

How do you find out if your prospect holds the purse strings? And if they have money to spend?

That can be an awkward question, particularly in the UK, where money questions are considered impolite.

You want to find this out early in the conversation. It may seem a little insulting if you admit they’re the wrong individual to talk to and ask for a call transfer. So, try to ascertain their position in the hierarchy and their remit early on.

Could you just be direct and ask:

“Do you mind me asking, are you the budget holder in your department?”

Perhaps. But that’s rather blunt and might raise the hackles of those who don’t enjoy a direct approach. Maybe there’s a more indirect route to the same information:

“How are purchase decisions made in your department?” or “Do you have a budget for X?”

If they are unable to answer these questions, then you’re probably not speaking to someone who actively manages the procurement process.

In a B2C context, it’s harder to lead with these questions since an individual’s solvency can be highly personal. You might drop into conversation, something like:

“What sort of budget do you have in mind for X?” or “How much do you typically spend on X?”

The latter formula will tell you whether their budget is aligned with the pricing of your product.

The financial aspect might be the last part of the MAN formula you qualify for, since it’s often the most delicate.

Authority

Qualifying authority might be as simple as asking for someone’s job title or saying “What does your role entail?”

However, direct questions about someone’s level of seniority can come across as impolite or pushy. Remember that what you need to know is whether this individual can drive procurement decisions.

In a B2C context, if you’re talking to one half of a couple, you’re effectively asking who holds the purse strings, so tread carefully. However, in B2C it’s probably safest to assume that any adult you talk to has the authority to make purchase decisions.

Here are some roundabout ways to gauge authority:

“Who makes the purchasing decisions with regards to X?” or “Does your department have delegated power to make purchasing decisions about X?”

The individual will likely tell you that either they have the authority to make purchases, or that someone else does. In the latter case, when you’ve got your prospect interested in hearing your pitch, you can ask something like:

“Do you think Y would be interested in meeting?”

Here you’re flattering them by asking for their judgement on where the authority lies. They may then qualify that they have sufficient influence to proceed, or that you do need to talk to someone else.

If your prospect does not have authority, they may still influence those who do, so it’s not necessarily a disqualifying factor. They could become a useful champion for you.

Need

Need might be one of the easiest qualities to qualify since everyone enjoys complaining about their problems. Grumbling is human nature, so encourage that urge.

However, you don’t want to imply that the business with whom you’re dealing (or the household, in the case of B2C) is failing in some way. Let your prospect tell you that if it’s true.

Instead, ask open-ended questions that poke at the pain points your prospect may have, such as:

“What are your biggest challenges in terms of X?” or “Are you happy with your current provision of X?”

In both cases, X is the product or service you’re offering. If you’ve established sufficient trust, your prospect may open up here.

They may also fear directly revealing a weakness, so may be circumspect in their reply. Look for the subtext of statements like:

“We’re doing about as well as anyone else in this economic climate” or “It could be better, but we’re mostly okay.”

Both statements suggest the status quo is far from perfect, allowing you to offer to demonstrate how to solve their problems.

 

Effective Cold Calling Techniques for MAN

Here are some effective cold-calling techniques for MAN-based sales qualification:

Research those Leads

Make sure you know everything you can about the individual you’re calling. LinkedIn and the company website may help you, alongside brand mentions in trade websites, and publications. Or simply perform a Google search.

Things you can find out: current job title, previous workplaces, areas of responsibility, time with the company, opinions from social media posts, hobbies, and interests.

The latter can be good for bonding and establishing trust, so long as there’s an appropriate opportunity to mention your shared love of golf, R&B, or Portugal.

Find a hook

Don’t want the answer to the question “how did you get my name?” to be “I was handed a list of leads to qualify.” Therefore, find an alternative story to tell.

Did you see a post they made on LinkedIn? Were you browsing the company site? Did you get their name from a mutual contact?

It doesn’t need to be deeply meaningful, but it shows that you’re in the know about the lead’s role and interests, and that’s both flattering and builds trust.

Ask open-ended questions

Remember that a major part of being an effective salesperson is listening to a prospective customer’s pain points and priorities.

Ask the sort of discovery questions that free them up to give you the information you need:

• “What are your priorities in the next two quarters?”
• “How are you coping with this economic downturn?”
• “How do you deal with X (current household problem)?”

These are general enough that your lead is forced to fill in some of the blanks.

Focus on the value (3)

There’s only one thing that’s going to make your prospect bite, even if they have the money, authority, AND need, and that’s if your offering provides real value.

Focus on what you can give to your prospect which will make their job easier, more efficient, more productive, or more profitable. That’s really what you’re selling; it will make your prospect realise that they want, as well as need it.

i.e. if you’re selling an ad automation platform, you could stress the time savings it offers. The value here is efficiency.

Or if you’re selling a limousine service, you could stress the luxury of the product, and how much it impresses client’s clients. The value of this strategy is prestige.

Check out this article about how to use value-based sales conversation for more information and learn how to win more deals.

Focus on Decision Makers

Try to ensure you reach a decision-maker since, of the three MAN components, it’s probably the most vital. Always have this thought at the back of your mind: can this person greenlight a decision to buy?

If they can’t, can they transfer you to someone who will, or can they put in a good word? If the answer to all three questions is no, you’re probably just wasting everyone’s time.

Check out this article for even more support and information for your sales journey: Successful Cold Calling Tips & Examples

Objection Handling

Try to think through all potential sales objections to your offer before you make the call, and have responses prepared, so that you’re not caught off guard.

When your prospect offers an objection, make sure you know you’ve heard their concern. You can say something like this:

“I can see how that’s a worry, but have you considered…?” and then offer some significant plus points that hopefully tip the balance back in your favour.

Don’t ever contradict your prospect. “You’re wrong about that…” is not a good way to create a relationship.

Try to think of ways in which your product or service directly addresses their concerns, so that you can turn their objection into a solution.

OBJECTION: “Our priority isn’t offering better service, it’s more about improving efficiency”

SALES REP: “I get it. We’ve found that by automating your customer support ticketing, you save, on average, about two hours per staff member per day.”

 

Appointment Setting Strategies with MAN

Here are some simple strategies you can use for face-to-face appointment setting with a decision-maker.

1: Do you have time to talk?

Etiquette is important. If your prospect feels time-pressured, they are likely to become irritated with your call. Set a follow-up time that’s convenient for them and take the opportunity to ask for a face-to-face.

2: Leverage social proof

People are influenced by the trust that their peers place in an unknown party. If your current prospect hasn’t had dealings with you, mention some high-profile clients they will have heard of (direct competitors are good).

3: Promote cost savings

The best way to overcome money-related objections is to demonstrate how your product or service will save your client money, rather than cost them dearly. Something like “Can I meet with you to show you how X will save you up to £Y per month?”

Of course, you’ll need the stats and metrics to back this up when you do meet.

4: Don’t try to sell immediately

If your priority is to move from a cold call to a meeting, then don’t go in all guns blazing. A “softly softly” approach can be more disarming and should help you build a relationship.

5: Use your entertaining budget

If you’re aiming for a decision-maker, the chances are they’re quite senior and used to life’s finer things. Can you meet them out of the office in a chic café or restaurant? A tasty meal or a chance to escape the humdrum might tempt them to say yes to a meeting.

6: Use facts and figures

A hard-nosed decision-maker is motivated by data-driven evidence. If you’re trying to set a meeting with them, ask for a chance to show them some metrics on your laptop, or via PowerPoint. That might get you in the door.

7: Present a short case study

If you know they have the budget and authority to purchase, ask to meet to show your prospect how well your existing clients have fared. This meeting will probably involve paperwork or onscreen data, so you can insist on a face-to-face.

8: Lead with who, what, and why

If you want to move promptly to setting an appointment with a MAN-compatible prospect, then don’t waste the time of the individual who picks up the phone.

State clearly who you are, what your company is offering, and why a face-to-face meeting is advisable or essential.

The Takeaway

“If you make more appointments with quality people, you will have fewer disappointments with non-quality people” – Robert J Braathe.

Business trainer and founder of Be Your Start, Braathe has a point. You’re saving yourself time, effort, and disappointment by following the MAN framework and talking to individuals with the means, authority and need to close the deal.

Money, authority and need. That’s the golden perfect triumvirate. Bear MAN in mind next time you begin on that long list of cold calls.

If you need support elevating your sales skills to the next level, please check out our Sales Training Courses

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training