Decision-Maker Versus Approver: How to Empower a Mobilizer with Kevin "KD" Dorsey
31 Jan 2026 · 2 min
Kevin "KD" Dorsey breaks down the difference between champions and mobilizers, and between decision makers and approvers. The key: empower the mobilizer first, the person who can actually sell internally, before you push for next steps.
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Welcome to the live Better Sell Better.
Podcast with your host Kevin Dorsey of Inside Sales Excellence, the number one Patreon.
Group and YouTube channel for tech sellers and tech sales leaders, where we dive in deep for tactical advice on how to book more meetings, close more deals faster, and lead sales teams to success. But we don't stop there. We also focus on the person in salesperson. We talk about mindset goals, time management.
And so much more.
So thank you for listening and if you're interested, head on over to patreon.com InsideSalesExCexcellence now with that, grab a notepad, get ready, and let's dive into the good stuff. So now this is a little like, trick is the wrong word. It's just psychology and the power of language. So seeding and priming. If you haven't read Methods of Persuasion yet by Nick Kolenda, please go read it. I've been recommending it to y' all for years now, like, go get this book. But seeding and priming means like dropping hints, dropping ideas throughout a process. So by the end it's very easy to agree to and oftentimes they even think it was their idea. So throughout the entire presentation, you're seeding next steps. So when we show this to the group, they're really going to want to see this. When we pull in Kim, this is going to be an area that she really is going to want to dive into. Your team is going to love to see this. When we cover this again, we'll go even further in depth. Do you hear what I'm doing there? I'm planting the seed throughout the demo that one, there are next steps and two, what are they? Right. So by the Time we get to the end of the demo, they've already been hearing that this idea for the last 25, 30 minutes. Right. When you share this with the team, like when you're really getting people excited about this, take this as a note down to make sure that you share, because you're seeding the idea that they are going to mobilize, but you're also seeding the idea of that next step, which so often is just trying to get the next decision maker involved. Now, honestly, I should have added a slide on this and I'll just talk about it real fast. You need to know who you actually need to get involved. It always cracks me up when a salesperson wants to talk to my cfo. Do you really think that you're going to sell internally better than me? The CFO doesn't know you. Right. There's no relationship there. Right. So it's empowering your buyer who has the best chance to get it done. But sometimes you don't want to talk to the approver versus the decision maker. There's a big difference there. You need to make sure that you understand the difference in your sales process. Who makes the decision versus who approves the funds. Those are two totally different people, more often than not. And you need to have the processes in place to help. And we talk about it a little bit further along in this training. Okay? So a champion loves what you do. A mobilizer can sell internally and spread the good word. This is the difference. Right. People do this all the time. I got a champion. I've got a champion. That just means they love what you do. A mobilizer can sell internally and spread the good word. Decision maker is different than approver.
Right.
The CFO might approve, but they're not the decision maker. If I'm picking sales loft or outreach, Right. They're not the decision maker. If I'm picking salesforce or HubSpot, they might approve the financial commitment, but they're not the decision maker. You need to find out the difference. In order to create a mobilizer, you have to empower them throughout the entire process. Okay, so let's talk about how to navigate this call. If you did discovery. Right. If you seeded and primed and looped the right way, if you did the upfront contract right. Now, when we get to the end, there's a very specific process you have to follow. And we're going to go through this step by step. Step number one, which honestly, most salespeople skip every single time, confirming your immobilizer. Is sold. Because if your contact isn't sold, no one else will be either. And the key here is asking them if they think it will solve a problem. Problem. Not if they want to buy. Right. And you really have to listen here for a hard yes. Anything else? You need to back up and dig in so it looks like this. So, hey, you know, Katie, before we talk next steps and pulling people in, what do you think? Do you think this would potentially solve XYZ better than what you're doing right now? This is so important. Do you think it will solve xyz? We're still agreeing that there's a problem. We're agreeing that we'll solve it. And we're getting commitment from them. And you're listening for a hard yes? Yeah, I do. Next question. Why? Which part really stood out? What would change if you did? This is important because now everything that follows, if we get a hard yes and a why, everything that follows is about helping them get what they want, not what we want. And you'll see how this adds up. But you gotta listen for this hard yes. Because if they give you a soft yes. Yeah, I think so. Need to pause. They are not sold yet. And if your mobilizer isn't sold, they will never sell internally if they hit you with an objection or a deflection. Right. Do you think this will solve XYZ problem for you? Well, it kind of depends on how much it costs. Time out. No, it doesn't. Whether or not they believe it'll solve the problem has nothing to do with the cost. And you actually do need to push back there a little bit. Well, actually, kd, if this was free and you didn't believe it would actually solve the problem, you still wouldn't move forward. So before we even get into price, I want to. Does that mean that you do think it would solve XYZ problem? That's why you're curious about price. You gotta back up. Right? So this is the first step. Confirm they are sold. And then the second part. Why? Why do I believe it'll solve a problem?
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