Content for the person who is not the decision maker but researches

5 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

In a large share of purchases, the person doing the looking is not the person who will decide. An office manager researching suppliers for a director, an adult child looking into care for a parent, a junior gathering options for a partner, one half of a couple doing the initial search. They will not sign anything and they control which options reach the person who will.

Marketing aimed exclusively at the decision maker misses them entirely, which means missing the stage where the shortlist is built. The researcher has different needs — they are managing the risk of recommending badly, not the risk of buying badly — and material that serves them is what gets you into the conversation you actually want.

1. Content for the person who is not the decision maker serves a different fear

The key insight.

The buyer fears a bad purchase. The researcher fears recommending something that turns out badly and being blamed for it. Those are different anxieties requiring different reassurance. Material that reduces the second fear gets forwarded; material that only sells the outcome does not.

2. Make them look competent for suggesting you

The objective to design for.

Clear information, credible evidence, nothing that would embarrass them. A researcher will not pass on an option they cannot defend if questioned. Anything vague, overclaimed or hard to verify is a reason for them to choose a safer option to put forward.

3. Give them something they can forward

The practical requirement.

A page, a summary, a document that survives being sent to somebody else without them having to explain it. Material that only works alongside a conversation does not travel. The test is whether it makes sense to somebody who arrives at it with no context at all.

4. Answer the questions their decision maker will ask

The anticipation.

Cost, timescale, risk, alternatives, why you rather than the others. The researcher will be asked these and needs the answers ready, or your option gets dropped for one that is easier to justify.

5. Make the comparison easy to assemble

The format that helps them.

Clear specifications, comparable pricing, an obvious summary. If your information is harder to put into a comparison than a competitor's, you may be excluded for that reason alone.

6. Do not require a conversation to get basic facts

The barrier that removes you.

A researcher gathering options will not book calls with five suppliers. Anything gated behind a conversation is frequently skipped, and you are eliminated without a single interaction.

7. Recognise them when they contact you

The handling point.

Somebody asking careful questions who cannot commit is not a poor lead; they are your route in. Treating them as unqualified because they lack authority is a common and costly misread.

8. Support them rather than trying to bypass them

The relationship judgement.

Attempting to go around a researcher to reach the decision maker is usually detected and resented, and they have more power to exclude you than to include you.

9. Ask who else is involved, early

The qualifying question.

"Who else will be part of this decision?" is straightforward, informative and rarely asked. It tells you what material is needed and who really has to be convinced.

Be careful about assuming the researcher has no influence. In many purchases their recommendation is effectively the decision, and the formal decision maker ratifies a choice that was already made.

Conclusion

Serve the researcher, because they assemble the shortlist the decision maker chooses from.

Recognise that their fear is recommending badly rather than buying badly, make it easy for them to look competent for suggesting you, give them material that survives being forwarded, answer the questions their decision maker will ask, present information in a form that is easy to compare, avoid requiring a conversation for basic facts, treat them as a route in rather than an unqualified lead, support them instead of going around them, and ask early who else is involved.