Commercial enterprises, like manufacturing ones, have a structure aimed at performing certain tasks. And it is quite natural that the decision-maker is at the head of the process. What it is? How is this abbreviation deciphered? A decision maker is a decision maker. It can be the president of the company, and the general director, and the executive director, and the commercial director, and the leading manager, and even the office manager.
DM: what is it in the structure of the organization?
The adoption of strategic decisions regarding the definition of the main goals of the enterprise is, as a rule, laid down even before the start of activity. Usually all this is spelled out in the Charter of the enterprise adopted by the founders. That is, at the initial stage of the decision-making process are those (or those) who decide to create the organization itself.
Most often, the founders are entrusted with the appointment of the appointed director (general, executive, commercial) to manage the created organization. The title of the post does not change the essence: it is entrusted with the management of operational activities. And in this situation, the decision-maker is the leader responsible for the financial well-being of the company (in the broadest sense of the term).
The appointed director fulfills the structure of the enterprise entrusted to him: it determines not only the number of services, their interaction, but also appoints decision makers for them. What is it in a particular service, what is regulated by its position and status? The answers to these questions are usually determined by the staffing table and are prescribed in the job descriptions.
Financial decisions
The functions of the structural unit determine the problems that, due to their abilities and status, are solved by the appointed leader.
The chief financial officer, usually reporting to them, has to make decisions on the timely payment of taxes, salaries, and bank and commodity loans. Financiers are in contact, as a rule, with banking and tax services, with employees of similar services of enterprises of creditors and debtors. The performance of tasks by these services is regulated, the responsibility for making decisions lies strictly within the framework of job descriptions.
Business development
Any modern enterprise, whether it is production, the service sector (domestic or logistics) or resale (wholesale, retail) for development, must constantly expand its field of activity, winning new customers (customers, consumers). A well-established process, in which all the components are taken into account and there is no place for crisis phenomena, allows managers to work in a fairly calm and stable environment. Unfortunately, there are very few such enterprises. Basically, the decision maker does not have enough time to think through the consequences and should be the only one out of many proposed (or available) options.
Naturally, the founders trust the management of their business only to trusted and professional employees.
Contacts with external organizations (clients)
Any modern enterprise is unthinkable without a department selling a product of production. Usually this is done by the sales department, or simply by an employee (manager), monitoring the constancy or expansion of the clientele. A decision maker (a decision maker) is almost always an ordinary employee in these units (although nominally this is the head of the sales department): the possibility and conditions for receiving a service (or product) by a client depend on it. These powers (rights) are laid down in the job description of an employee of the sales department, and an increase in the shaft (amount of shipments) allows him to receive a bonus. Advanced clients (buyers), knowing this feature of doing business (often unconsciously, less consciously), are looking for contacts with those who can solve shipping (sales) issues at a discount.
DM: what is it in procurement?
The manufactured product should not lie in the warehouse of the enterprise, especially perishable and non-unique. Marketing services of manufacturers come up with all kinds of "enticements" for new customers: bonuses, deferrals, advertising support, tastings - this is just a small list of tricks. But to find a new buyer in an era of no shortage is almost impossible. Procurement departments (only in rare cases at industrial enterprises call them procurement departments) know that it is possible to find (or replace) the right product without much hassle: just take an interest, line up, fill with commercial offers. But the choice is the prerogative of the decision maker. It may be the purchaser himself, if he has confidence, but more often - this is not even the head of the procurement department, but the commercial director. It is they who negotiate the terms of the contract, preferences, logistics - all of which depends on obtaining long-term profit.
How to reach a responsible decision maker?
Each sales manager has his own arsenal of tools that allow, with varying degrees of confidence, to find the right employee in the structure of the enterprise of interest. One of the non-standard is considered to be access to the decision-maker through the sales department, when a “colleague in arms” tells who is most likely to make the right decision.
A cold contact (telephone conversations) with an already defined employee may not take place: a trained (trained) office manager (secretary) will not connect.
Method "How to get around the secretary?" there is a huge variety: from personal acquaintances to the "exit" of the tax. But the goal (the conclusion of a new supply contract) justifies all means, even not entirely loyal.