The Decision Maker

If you're selling saddles make sure you're not talking to the horse! You need to be speaking to the decision maker, not someone else who isn't qualified to make purchasing decisions. Suppose you have just made one of you best sales presentations and when you ask for the order your prospect says, "I'll have to give all this information to Mr Big, he makes the final decision. You have just been speaking to the messenger! When it's finally presented to Mr Big it won't have the same impact that you gave it.

Why not find out early in the meeting whether the person who can make a decision is present. If he isn't, you can suggest that they bring in Mr Big halfway through if the messenger likes your presentation so far. Then give Mr Big a short recap and finish your presentation. Then you can proceed to close the sale with the person who makes the purchasing decision. This has a better chance of turning into a sale and saves a lot of everyone's time.
More on face-to-face selling in chapter 10 of my book "90 Days to Success as a Small Business Owner"