In complex industrial sales, the idea of a single 'customer' is a myth. Instead, you're dealing with a multi-layered group of individuals, each with their own priorities, pressures, and definitions of value. This group is known as the Decision Making Unit (DMU), and understanding its structure is the first step in building a truly representative Voice of the Customer (VoC) program.

Consider a company selling GRE/GRP piping. The DMU for this product isn't just one person. It's a web of influence:

• C-Suite Executives: They focus on the big picture. Their concerns are about Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX). Will this new piping reduce long-term maintenance costs? Does the initial investment align with our annual budget?
• Procurement Teams: Their world revolves around cost-benefit analysis. They are tasked with getting the best price, negotiating contracts, and ensuring the supplier meets compliance standards. They compare quotes and weigh the total cost of ownership.
• Field Engineers: These are the hands-on experts. Their primary concerns are practical: ease of installation, reliability, and specific failure modes like weepage or delamination. A cheap pipe that's difficult to install or fails prematurely is a nightmare for them.

Each of these voices is critical. Listening only to procurement misses the technical needs of the engineers. Focusing only on the C-suite ignores the practical realities of implementation. A successful VoC program must capture and balance these competing priorities.

Once you've identified the members of the DMU, the next step is to categorise them. This isn't about treating people as labels, but about efficiently managing your communication and engagement efforts. The Power-Interest Grid is a classic tool for this.

The grid plots stakeholders on two axes: their level of interest in your project or product, and their power (or influence) over its success. This creates four distinct quadrants, guiding your engagement strategy.

Using this grid, you can see that while the C-suite executives are key players to manage closely, the field engineers, with their high interest but lower direct purchasing power, must be kept informed and valued for their technical insights. Procurement, also in this quadrant, needs consistent and clear data to support their cost-benefit analysis.

The Power-Interest Grid is a solid start, but sometimes you need to prioritise further. What happens when multiple key players have conflicting demands right now? This is where the Salience Model adds a crucial layer of nuance by introducing a third factor: urgency.

The model uses three overlapping circles to classify stakeholders based on their possession of one or more key attributes:

• Power: The ability to influence the organisation's decisions.
• Legitimacy: The perceived validity or appropriateness of their claim.
• Urgency: The degree to which their claim requires immediate attention.

A C-suite executive typically has power and legitimacy, making them a 'Dominant' stakeholder. But if a field engineer reports a critical, time-sensitive installation failure (urgency), their voice, though perhaps lacking formal power, becomes highly salient. The 'Definitive' stakeholders, those with all three attributes, are your absolute top priority.

By applying these models, your VoC program becomes a strategic tool. You can map the entire DMU, understand the source and nature of their influence, and prioritise whose feedback needs to be addressed most urgently. This ensures your insights are balanced and truly representative of the entire value chain, from the initial design conversations right through to decommissioning.