Each company will have different processes for making decisions and finalising purchases.
• Some make decisions by committee;
• Some managers decide for themselves;
• Some involve Procurement at the start, some at the end;
• Levels of budget authority vary.
It is very important that as you progress through the sales process, that you find out more and more of the information that you require regarding the decision-making process. It is very difficult to close a deal if you do not know who is going to sign the cheque at the end. If you do not do this, you are likely to lose the sale.
In almost every significant purchase that we make, different people are involved in the decision-making process. If we are buying a house, it may be a collective family decision. If you are buying on your own, you are likely to ask the opinion of family and friends before you buy. Even for a small purchase like a pair of jeans, you may ask a friend “does my bum look big in these?”
In the business to business world, there will almost certainly be multiple people and multiple roles involved in the decision-making process. Decision making is becoming increasingly complex and has to take account of multiple influences. Studies have shown that in a medium sized business (about 500 people), six to seven people are involved in any significant purchasing decision.
If you are trying to sell into such a company, it is important that you know not only how they will make a decision but who will be involved, what their role will be and what their opinion will be. Each person and role will have a different view on the purchase; they may each see different benefits that will come from the purchase. Any one of the decision makers could cause the deal to fail.
While it may not be possible to meet everyone who is involved in a purchasing decision, getting to meet as many as possible will definitely help. You will have to understand their motivation, their role, their personality, their background and their position on the technology adoption curve. By understanding these things, you can give them the information that they require to make a decision, in a way that suits them and such that they understand the benefits of the purchase.
Each of the people involved in the purchase will have a different role to play. It is important in every sale to know which role each person is playing as the way we interact with them will vary. There are three primary roles:
Economic buyer
Technical buyer
End User
The Economic Buyer is the person who signs the cheque! They control the budget. Depending on the size of the purchase and the size of the company, their position will vary. For small companies, the CEO or CFO may have to approve all purchases. For larger companies, budget responsibility may be devolved down through the organisation.
Economic buyers will not be so interested in the different features and functions of your technology. However, they will very definitely care about value that it will bring. They will not want to sit through long presentations about how the technology works. They will want a short summary of how it is going to make their life better.
The Technical Buyer is usually the most senior technical person reviewing the proposed solution. They have the role because of their technical expertise. They will not have the ability to approve a deal but they can certainly say no to it! Technical Buyers care that your solution does what you claim it does. This is not about which button you press to start it but does it complete the processes that you have claimed in a reasonable and efficient way. They will want to know how it will fit in with other technologies, how long it will take to implement and how much training their team will require before they are effective users.
The End User is the person most concerned with the user experience and day-to-day impact of your product. They do not have any budget and have the least influence on a decision. However, as they are the ones who will use the product, the success of the deal will depend on their success using the product.
There will be many End Users. They will vary in influence and will vary in how much they like your solution. You do not require everyone to like it but you do require enough of them to like it. It will be unusual for a company to impose a solution that the user community does not want.
Get to know all of the people involved in the process as soon as you can and discuss their requirements with them. The more that you can do this, the more chance you have of success.