Decision Drivers

What is a Decision Driver?

Decision Drivers are the factors that influence a prospective buyer's decision to buy (positive driver) or not buy (negative driver) your solution.

At Clozd, we have conducted thousands of win-loss interviews with buyers. In each case we analyze the Decision Drivers that influence the buyer’s final decision. There are often multiple Decision Drivers that influence the outcome of a deal, either positively or negatively. For example, your buyer may have preferred your solution and liked your sales process, but the price was too high to justify the purchase. As a result, you lost the deal. For this reason the Clozd app for Salesforce allows opportunity owners to assign/rate multiple positive and negative Decision Drivers for each closed opportunity.

What are common Decision Drivers?

In our experience there are many Decision Drivers that are common and consistent across industries, solution types, etc. We also find that each business has unique Decision Drivers that are specific to their products, services, industry, buyers, etc.

Here is a sample list of common Decision Drivers by category:

Product or Solution‍

Overall features or capabilities.
Ease of use.
Ease of implementation or getting started.

Sales Experience‍

Sales team knowledge or expertise.
Sales process and follow up.
Sales team listening and communication.
Sales materials, marketing content, and other resources.

Pricing & Packaging‍

Total cost of ownership.
Pricing model or terms.
Pricing clarity and transparency.
(Check out our Pricing Strategy Guide to learn more.)

Our Company & Brand‍

Company reputation.
Company presence (geographic footprint, company size, user base, etc.).
Market leadership and expertise.

Other‍

Client organizational influences (personnel changes, M&A activity, etc.).
Timing or urgency.
Legal or regulatory compliance.

How long should our list of Decision Drivers be?

When setting up the Clozd app for Salesforce you will need to develop a set of Decision Drivers for your business. The app is pre-loaded with a template of sample Decision Drivers similar to the list above. You can add, edit, and remove Decision Drivers. Clozd does not enforce a minimum or maximum number of Decision Drivers.

Here are some important principles to consider:

• Create a list of Decision Drivers that is mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE). Learn more here.
• Keep the list as short as possible. Long lists are burdensome and overwhelming to opportunity owners.
• Start with a smaller list of more general Decision Drivers. Then, expand the list over time as needed.
• In general, we recommend starting with a list of roughly 15-25 total Decision Drivers.