The person who signs is rarely the person you emailed

01Who's actually in the room

For most B2B purchases, four roles shape the decision. Sometimes one person plays two of them. They're rarely all the same person.

1. The user. The person who'll use what you sell every day. They feel the pain first and loudest. They usually can't sign.
2. The owner. The manager whose numbers the problem hurts: Head of Sales, Marketing Lead, Ops Manager. They decide whether the problem is worth solving this quarter.
3. The signer. The person who approves the spend. In a 120-person company, often the founder, CEO or CFO, depending on the amount.
4. The blocker. Someone who can quietly kill it: IT for security, finance for budget, legal for contracts. They rarely say yes. They can always say "not now".

02Where to aim the first email

Aim at the owner. Not the user, who can't buy. Not the signer, who doesn't feel the problem day to day and gets a hundred emails like yours.

The owner feels the pain and can carry it upstairs. If your email gives them a way to fix a number they're judged on, they'll do the internal selling for you.

How to spot the owner at a 120-person company:

• Look for the team, not the title. Who runs the team the problem lives in? On LinkedIn, check who the team members report to.
• Check recent hiring. Whoever is hiring for the problem area usually owns it.
• Read what they post. People who own a problem tend to talk about it.

03Then widen the circle

Once you have the owner, don't stop. Map the others before the first call.

• Mention the user's pain in your email, so the owner can forward it to them.
• Have the signer's answer ready: cost, how fast it pays back, what happens if it doesn't work.
• Get ahead of the blocker: if you touch their data, have your security and contract answers written down before anyone asks.

04The mistake to avoid

Don't email five people at the same company on the same day with the same message. They talk to each other. To them it looks like spam with extra steps.

Pick the owner. Write to them. If there's no reply after your follow-ups, move to the next most likely owner with a different angle.

05The short version

• In a 120-person company, a purchase usually involves a user, an owner, a signer and a blocker.
• Aim the first email at the owner: they feel the pain and can take it upstairs.
• Prepare for the signer and the blocker before they ask.

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