My old sales mentor told me I was 'selling to the wrong guy' at a $2M ARR account and it took me 3 weeks to get what he meant
He meant I was pitching the VP of Ops when the actual budget approval sat with a CFO in Columbus who had never once been in our demo calls. Now I map every deal by who signs the check instead of who talks the most, anyone else learn this the hard way?
Spent years courting the loudest person in the room while some finance guy in Ohio held all the power lol. The real buyer is usually the one who never shows up to your demos.