THE Key Performance Metric: The A/B Ratio. Part 1: Calling Below the Power Line

Many of my associates and I have helped our clients implement sales and sales management methodologies around the world since the early 1990's. We have found that the most pervasive problem confronting sellers and, because of the resulting impact on the entire organization, one of the most critical challenges confronting sales executives and sales managers, is that sellers call too low in buyer organizations. We call this, "Calling Below the Power Line”.

And how do we define the power line? The power line describes, separates, and differentiates two key types of buyers:

Buyers "Above the Power Line" may be described as those who:

1. View what you are selling as an investment in the business


2. Have the power to buy, or at minim, participate in the decision-making process


3. Will give a seller access to other key buyers above the power line who will also participate in the buying decision


4. Have enough power to agree to all steps to take leading to a buy decision.

On the other hand, buyers "Below the Power Line" may be described as those who:

1. Do not have the power to buy, nor do they have the power to cause a decision to take place. They are influencers at best.


2. Often times shield sellers from the true buyers who are above the power line


3. May favor the competition or view the seller as their competition.

In the next post on this subject we will look at the significant negative organizational impact of calling "Below the Power Line", and how managing top-down to the A/B Ratio can help. In the final post we will look at the specific, integrated steps that sales executives, sales managers, and sellers should take to resolve this issue.