The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

Risk Assumption

In the same way that clever fighters make things look easy, Foxes are often risk takers who actually appear to be rather conservative. You have probably heard the term “calculated risk”; this means the following to a Fox:

Risk = Responsibility − Authority

In short, you are at risk in an organization when you accept responsibility to meet some objective but do not have the authority to marshal all the resources required to pull it off. And as we have already discovered, influence becomes critical when authority is lacking.

Think about how this applies to the way that Foxes interact with sellers. How responsible does your company hold you, the seller, for whether your customer buys your product? Unless you are in a very odd selling environment, the answer is “entirely responsible.” Now, how much authority do you have within your customer account to make them buy? There should be no exceptions to this one: none. Therefore, your risk is 100 percent. You have all the responsibility and no authority. Let’s look at it from your customer Fox’s perspective.

Suppose you have sold your product to the Fox. How responsible does the Fox hold you for whether it does everything it is supposed to? Completely, right? How much authority do you have within your company to command all the resources it will take to make the product succeed—now and in the future? Sellers do not often have the formal authority to direct the efforts of Manufacturing personnel, Shipping supervisors, and ...