The Five Stakeholder Types in Sales That Can be Opponents or Blockers (and how to overcome them)

Opponent Category: Price Pest vs. Price Pain

Risk Level: 5-10

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Risk Level 5: The price pest is someone who is almost purely shopping on price. These buying committee stakeholders self-identify quickly as they don’t typically ask meaningful questions and tend to focus on shallow pricing conversations. These stakeholders can be overcome pretty easily through data-backed ROI conversations. As long as you have a good value story, you can ask the question, “Are you more concerned about price or cost?”. They’ll typically give you a blank stare because they don’t know the difference. You then walk them through your value story and circle back to why they’re focused on price. If they still balk at pricing, they can be neutralized through other stakeholders.

Price: They literally don’t have the money in the bank and they cannot afford your product.

Cost: Always viewed through the lens of value.

Risk Level 10: If price is truly an issue and you stick to your guns with your pricing, you have a high chance of losing a winnable deal, which is really painful, especially if you’re the product they prefer. If there are true budgetary constraints, sellers cannot ignore those. They will kill your deal.

Opponent Category: The Pessimist

Risk Level: 3

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This stakeholder simply doesn’t believe what you say your product or service will accomplish. They may not even believe your competitors and are simply “bah humbug” about the evaluation in its entirety. Do not spend too much time on these stakeholders. This person has probably been burned in the past in some fashion and is simply closed off for discussions. Try to hone in on those past experiences and show them how it’ll be different this time, but don’t waste too much time.

If they’re not being receptive at all, then simply neutralize them. A statement or question to another influential buying group stakeholder like, “Hey Jim, Paul over there seems like he was really burned in the past in this regard and doesn’t seem receptive to any solution, let alone objectively evaluating what’s out there. How do you recommend I overcome that with him or maybe you guys are already addressing that internally since he’s clearly against the initiative?” Every situation will be different, and that statement won’t work for them all, but this is a nice & tactful way to plant the seed in others’ heads that this stakeholder should be dismissed.

Opportunity Category: The Opossum

Risk Level: 2

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This is a stakeholder who is risk-averse and if put into a situation where they’ve got to provide an opinion, they’ll just simply agree with the majority. Even if their opinion is valid and drastically different from others, when asked they may simply play dead, like an Opossum. These personalities don’t typically make it into influential leadership roles, so their threat is minimal. Simply gain preference with the people around them and this person will match their colleague’s opinions.

Opportunity Category: The Politician

Risk Level 3-7

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This stakeholder can consume a lot of your time and must be watched carefully as their loyalty will change with the wind. They value being viewed as important and typically have great “title” or “responsibility” aspirations, as opposed to true career aspirations. They tend to overuse their title, or are overly proud of it, or they tend to brag a lot about how much they’re responsible for. You might even be able to identify these personalities before meeting them because their LinkedIn profile is probably filled with every little accomplishment across every role. 

Their ego is greater than their influence and, just like in martial arts, where you’re taught to use someone else’s momentum against them, the same can be done here. Figure out what makes them tick and stroke their ego. “That’s really impressive how you did A, B, and C, while juggling the responsibilities of X, Y, and Z. I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been. How did you do it?” Then get ready for 15 minutes of them talking about themselves. Just sit back, listen, and show your shock/awe at the sight of their greatness. Throughout the cycle, you want to showcase how your offering will contribute to their greatness and their own self-centered aspirations.

This person doesn’t typically have meaningful authority but oftentimes has influence because they’re probably well-networked throughout the organization (visibility), so they’re still worth paying attention to.

The risk level range identified here is purely dependent on their level of influence and authority within the account. If this person also has influence and authority, they’re harder to convert or neutralize.