Start by finding authority and proving the path to it. The economic buyer signs the check and causes everyone else to move.1 A name in your notes does not mean you have access to that person. Identification can exist without a connection.2 A deal needs engagement with the economic buyer before you treat it as committed.3 Run the work in order: form a view, map approval, test the current contact, learn what matters to the buyer, and secure a direct path. A clear answer from the person who controls approval is the strongest signal.
Start with a working definition
Tie the label to financial authority so you have a clear test for every contact.
Budget approval and technical requirements are separate parts of the buying process.4 A contact can be close to the problem without having the budget or authority to purchase.5 Treat the economic buyer as the person who can approve the spend, then map the other people who shape the decision.
Form a preliminary view
Make your first pass before the conversation. Bring a hypothesis that the contact can confirm or disprove.
Salespeople should form a preliminary view of who the economic buyer is before a call.6 Start with the function that owns the outcome, the budget that could fund the purchase, and the approval path you expect. Ask, "Is this on her radar?"7
Check who owns the budget after implementation as well as who owns the current project. Ask, "or after the solution is implemented, who is going to own the budget then?"8 This can reveal a change in ownership that the current contact has not considered.
Keep the view provisional until the contact describes how the decision works and you can explain why this person appears to control the purchase.
Map authority and approval
Trace the decision from the current conversation to the person who can authorize the purchase. Use titles to guide the search, then use the process to confirm who has power.
Map the decision process because who holds power differs across sales organizations.9 Ask, "What does it look like for you guys? Is this ultimately your decision or do we need to get some buy-in?"10 Ask who is holding the budget.11 Check whether executive approval is required in the buying process.12
Ask, "What buying thresholds happen?"13 The answer shows whether approval changes at a different threshold. Record each approval point and the person attached to it. Your map should show who recommends, who approves, and where another approval enters the process.
Test the current contact
Use the current contact to test your map. Someone who knows the project may still lack the authority to buy.
An employee may receive a specific budget and a specific objective to find a tool.14 Budget access is useful evidence, but it does not settle whether that person gives final approval. Treat a contact's claim to be the decision maker as unverified when the contact cannot explain how decisions are made.15
If you cannot identify the contact as someone with budget authority, find another person to sell to.16 Separate partial approval from final commercial approval. The economic buyer may hold some approval authority while the CFO approves the full agreement.17
The contact should be able to name the approval path and help you reach the person who controls the final decision.
Learn what the economic buyer cares about
Access improves when your message reflects the buyer's own risk. Use people already close to the buying process to learn that concern before asking for a meeting.
Before an executive meeting, ask the champion, "what does the economic buyer care about?"18 Use the answer to shape the business case. The economic buyer focuses on risk and opportunity cost, pays little attention to features, and asks what happens if the purchase fails.19
Ask about the consequence of delay and the cost of a poor decision, then ask what result the buyer must protect. Leave feature discussions to the people who own the technical requirements.
Secure access and engagement
A named buyer becomes useful when you can reach them and learn their view directly. Make access a separate checkpoint.
An early-stage review asks, "Do we have access to the economic buyer?"20 Use department leads or champions to get the inside information you need about the economic buyer before the meeting.21 Then seek a clear answer from the economic buyer or the decision maker aligned with them.22
Set the checkpoint early enough to change course. The sales team should know who the economic buyer is by the solution mapping stage, or at the latest by the pilot stage.23 If the path is still indirect then, return to the contact and ask for an introduction or permission to make the approach yourself.
Run the check in deal review
A deal review should expose uncertainty while there is still time to resolve it. Keep asking about authority until the answer is specific.
Ask, "Do you have the economic buyer?"24 Then ask what makes the team confident this person controls the purchase. If the answer is missing, obtain it before treating the deal as qualified. When the team does not know the answers to the economic buyer questions, go get them.25
Write down the person's name, approval role, concern, and route to direct engagement. A blank tells you what the next conversation must resolve.
What not to do
These mistakes can leave a deal looking active while authority remains untested.