How to Know the Points of Contact within a Niche

It's super important to know who to reach out to. But truly HOW do you know the person you're going after is really the right one that makes the decision on hiring YOU? The purpose of this post is to share some of our past experiences on contacts by niche and to share my thoughts, which may actually seem counter-intuitive and maybe even opposite from what you're used to. 

Before I dive in further, know that there's no set rule of thumb on finding the right decision-maker. Also know that there are different titles and these tiles mean different things from company to company. In other words, the below isn't gospel.

Titles of Decision-Makers By Niche though our experience

Schools - 

Principal/Headmaster
Asst. Principal
Office Manager
Business Manager
Facilities Manager
Chief Financial Officer
Director of Buildings and Grounds
Director of Operations
Pastor (if church-affiliated)

Places of Worship -

Pastor
Associate Pastor
Sexton
Facilities Manager
Business Manager
Chief Financial Officer
Office Manager
Secretary


Banks - 

Branch manager
Branch VP
Director of Operations (for multiple branches)
Facilities Manager (usually multiple branches)

Gyms - 

Owner
Facilities Manager
General Manager

Medical - 

Office Manager
Head Nurse
Business Manager
Practice Owner
Head Doctor

Car Dealerships - 

General Manager
Asst. General Manager
Facilities Manager
Business Manager


Office Buildings -

Property Manager
Property Mgmt Co. President
Asst. Property Manager
Facilities Manager
Head Engineer


Warehouses -

Company C-Suite (e.g. Pres., VP of whatever)
Facilities Manager
Director of Operations

Country Clubs - 

Director of Operations
Operations Manager


Restaurants - 

Owner
FOH/BOH Manager

I'll stop here with the examples....I think you get the idea. I've dealt with everyone at these title levels. Now that I spent time typing it all out....FORGET WHAT YOU SEE!!! Why? Because it really doesn't matter. Think about it for a second. If you have a law firm who has a partner who's staring at the same dust bunny for the past 3 weeks, and wants to change, does he spend the time to google around to find a new cleaning service? No! He tells his office staff to find a new cleaning company. His time is valuable (at $400/hr here in my area). It's not worth his time to search so he outsources that task. So then who becomes the decision-maker? It's that secretary. She or he becomes the one who googles around and selects the company. 

Another story.... We had a Lutheran church and school reach out. They did have a facilities manager but he didn't decide on services. They had a pastor and he didn't decide on that. They have a principal, and he wasn't the one to choose a cleaning company. It wasn't their business manager, or asst. principal or associate pastor. Who was it?  The 2nd Grade Teacher. I never would have guessed that in 100 years. If I spent all of my time marketing to everyone else, we would have lost out. Market to everyone and assume everyone is that next point of contact so you can win that next big bid. 

Go get them!

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Next on Deck: When Should You Delegate? (9-25-24)