A new executive joined the buyer mid-deal: what still holds, and what to ask first
A new executive on the buyer’s side doesn’t undo what the buyer told you. They can change who signs, what you’re judged on and the route to signature. Below: what still holds, what re-opens, and the first questions to ask.
Updated
A new executive just joined. Do we start over?
No. The pain and what the buyer already told you still hold. What re-opens is who signs, what they judge you on and the route to signature, because a new executive can change all three. Find out first whether they sign. If they do, the economic buyer is back to a name: you know who they are, not what they’re measured on.
What does a new executive re-open?
Three things: who signs, what goes on the scorecard, and the steps between yes and signature. Treat each as back at its bottom rung until someone on the buyer’s side tells you it still holds. The problem they described, and the numbers they put on it, stay where they were.
Still holds
The problem they described is still costing them. The new executive inherits it.
The numbers they put on it are still the numbers. A new title doesn’t change them.
Re-opens
Who signs, if the new executive does.
- named
- motivated
- engaged
Starts again at named
You have a name and a title. A name is enough to put a deal in the forecast, and on its own it tells you nothing about whether it will close.
What you’re judged on, if the new executive rewrites the scorecard.
- named
- positioned
- proven
Starts again at named
You know the criterion is on the list. You know it exists; you do not know how you score.
The route to signature, if the new executive adds or moves a step.
- listed
- owned
- dated
Starts again at listed
You know the steps exist and roughly what order they run in. Usually this came from one person’s memory of the last purchase.
What do I ask first?
Whether the new executive signs. If they do, find out what they’re on the hook for this year before you ask to meet them. Then ask whether the scorecard and the steps to signature are still the ones you were given.
Economic Buyer
Find out first whether they sign
To named
“When something this size gets approved here, whose signature is the last one on it?”
Asks for the approver by the approval rather than by title, so you do not name the evaluator by mistake.
To named
“When your team approved something this size last time, what did the approver actually see — a business case, a one-pager, someone in a room?”
Tells you the artifact this deal has to produce, and whether you are writing it this week.
To motivated
“What is [name] on the hook for this year — the number they get asked about?”
Gets the buyer’s personal measure, which is rarely the champion’s.
To motivated
“What is the thing they are most likely to say no to?”
Names the objection before it is raised somewhere you cannot answer it.
Decision Criteria
Ask who owns the scorecard now
To named
“When you compare options, what goes on the scorecard, and who wrote it?”
Gets the criteria and their author together — and the author is usually who you position with.
To named
“Of everything on that list, which one has actually killed a vendor here before?”
Separates the criteria that are scored from the ones that are recited.
Decision Process
Ask whoever walked you through the steps
To listed
“Walk me through what happens after you decide you want this — who sees it, and in what order?”
Gets the sequence in their words, including the steps that never appear in an RFP.
To listed
“Has anything about that path changed this year?”
Catches a reorg or a moved budget line before it invalidates your close date.
SalesWolf doesn’t know a new executive joined.
If a call you paste into SalesWolf names someone else as the one who signs, it proposes them against the buyer on record, and the deal keeps the old name until you replace it.
14 days free, no card, no call.