Find the real decision maker.

I spent three months convincing the Sporting Director about my player.

He liked him. We travelled to watch his games together. We discussed the transfer fee. We negotiated salary. The player was on board with the move. Everything fitted. Everything was agreed.

So I thought.

But I soon realised I’d wasted three months talking to the wrong person.

The Sporting Director called me and said the move couldn’t happen because the manager didn’t like the player.

In fact, the manager killed it in two seconds: “Don’t like him.”

Three months wasted because I’d mapped the power structure wrong. I didn’t realise that, at that particular club, the Sporting Director held that title in name only. The decision lay completely in the hands of the manager.

Had I known that, my approach would have been different. I would have approached the manager directly and, although I might not have convinced him, I would at least not have wasted three months of work.

The next transfer window, same club, different approach. I approached the manager first about a few players I had mandates for that I thought would be a good fit for his club. One in particular he liked. At that point I went via the Sporting Director because I knew I already had alignment from the real decision-maker.

We closed the move with three weeks of the transfer window left that summer.

💡 Every organisation has visible power and real power. The person across the table might be unable to say yes even if they want to.

Map the entire landscape:

Who actually decides? Who influences them? Who could torpedo this?

Practice: Before any negotiation, try to identify three people: the negotiator, the decision-maker, and the influencer. If they are all different people, you are playing three-dimensional chess ♟️