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Some may think it’s best to ask a prospect, "What's your decision making process?" I’d argue this is opening a can of worms. I’ve found it is not a best practice to ask questions about their process when evaluating your products and services. When asking for such details you can inadvertently cause more problems and delay in deals closing. There are more effective ways to find what you need. 
Here are some of the problems you’ll face:
1) Asking the prospect what the decision making process for your product and services allows them to dodge the question. In other words, they know you’re asking because you want to know what it takes to get your product or service purchased. If they’re not 100% sold on buying what you’re selling, then they have the opportunity to add steps to buy time and/or be deceptive.
2) Sometimes the prospect doesn’t know, however they won’t disclose their lack of knowledge. Instead they will make up the process they think will happen and then they will carry this out. Since they don’t really know, they might unintentionally add more steps and more people in the sale who are not necessary.
I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t find out the decision making process. I’m saying by asking the particular question, “what’s the decision making process” is actually putting you at a disadvantaged. Here are some alternatives:
1) Instead of asking about the process for getting your product or service approved, instead ask about something they’ve already purchased. Here are the questions you can ask in sequential order.
“What was the last product/service you were a part of bringing on board?”
“How quickly did you know you wanted it?”
“How much did you spend on ______ (insert name of product/service)?”
“Who else was part of purchasing _______?”
The prospect has now told you if they’ve been a part of a purchase before, how quickly they make decisions, how much money they’ve spent in previous purchases and who else makes decision with them.
By asking about something else other than your product and service will yield a more transparent answer. In doing so you’ll get the facts regardless of their decision or lack of decision to purchase your product and service. The prospect might not be aware they’re revealing information about the process in which will be needed for you.
2) Another best practice is to tell the prospect the process, don’t ask. If you tell them the process, they will either have to agree to it or correct you. If they correct you, it means they know the process. If they don’t know the process, telling them leaves no room for them to add unnecessary steps and/or people.
Before you tell prospects what their process is, you should know it yourself. In order to do so, go through all your closed deals and look for similarities. For example, what job titles are always involved in the decision? If you find the CEO is always in some way involved in the DM process, then that’s who tell them you need. Tell the prospect you’ve been doing this a long time and you know every time a customer has purchased, the CEO has been involved. Only ask for 20-30 minutes of the CEOs time initially as it’s less intimidating for an influencer and more likely to get from a busy CEO. You may get some push back; remind them this is not how it’s usually done. This makes them feel like the exception to the rule and usually makes them rethink.
While you still need to know the decision making process, there are more strategic and methodical was of getting the information you need. The suggestions above can also be the shortest point from A to B. Asking the decision making process has good intentions however it doesn’t mean it’s efficient or effective.
