Sales trainers across America tell their audience, “Get to the decision maker! That’s how you move forward and close the sale.”

Wrong.

Marketing gurus spout, “Your message must be targeted to the person who makes the choice to buy.”

Really?

I disrespectfully disagree.

A quick story to illustrate why:

On the way to my first writing conference I rode in the airport shuttle bus with a husband and wife from Montana. Warm people. Lots of laughter. Fun questions were thrown back and forth.

By the time we arrived at the conference I felt like I’d made two new friends. But I was so brand-spankin’ new to the world of publishing it wasn’t till halfway through the weekend that I realized this lady was a multi-published, influential author.

Three days after the conference she volunteered to read some of my writing. A day after that she said wanted to recommend me to her uber-agent.

Logic says my target going into the conference should have been editors and agents. They’re the decision makers, right? Yes, but having an inside champion got me to places I couldn’t have reached on my own.

McDonald’s figured this out long ago. The people with the coin of the realm in their pockets are mom and dad. But who does McDonald’s target? The eight-year-old inside champion.

You never know when you’ll bump into an inside champion. If you’re excited about your product—whether it’s a novel or a basket of French fries—tell everyone.

If you can get to the decision maker, wonderful. To contradict myself slightly, of course reaching them should be PART of your marketing plan. Just don’t forget to tell your passionate story to everyone, ’cause you never know where your next inside champ will come from.

Do you have an inside champion story? Tell us about it.