If buying is becoming more bureaucratic, then what are the implications of this for sellers? We asked sellers to share their tips on how to sell more successfully to bureaucratic buyers…
As more salespeople are learning to their cost, assumptions about how the buying decision is going to be made can be dangerous.
Typically, salespeople wonder if asking ‘what is your buying process?’ is a question that will either startle, or draw a blank stare from the buyer.
As salespeople it is easy to assume that buyers have become more machine-like in their approach to buying and that means they overlook opportunities to engage with buyers to the full extent possible.
The 5 steps model of buying is a one dimensional picture of buying can catch the salesperson off his, or her guard.
So, we have examined the key steps of the buying process. But, within each step, how much discretion remains in the hands of the manager-buyer? Is the buying process a flexible blueprint or a rigid rulebook? The Fortune 1000 buying process we have highlighted is highly prescriptive, something that is increasingly common. It clearly mandates [...]
Each progressive step brings the purchase one step closer to reality, with the commitment being made gradually over many months. Thus, the purchase decision is not simply a matter of one big YES or NO decision. Rather it is the culmination of a series of YES or NO decisions at each stage of the buying [...]
So far you are probably thinking this buying process is all about the buyer as there has been no mention of the seller yet. Well, now that we have looked at the conception and the conclusion of the Six Step Buying Process, and before we start to examine all the detail that is involved, let [...]
In our Fortune 1000 example managers must follow six key steps to gain purchasing approval. These logical and self-explanatory steps, ranging from Initial Requirements Capture to Launch and Review are shown below. Fig. 2.3 The 6 Steps of the Buying Process These steps can take place over anything from three months to two years, and [...]
Organizational buying, once ad hoc and unstructured, has become highly sophisticated and process-driven. Although salespeople have noticed some changes, they often underestimate just how sophisticated buying has now become. In this section many salespeople will come face-to-face for the very first time with the full complexity of buying — in the form of a Fortune [...]
Organizations are making slower and, in many cases, fewer buying decisions. But these decisions are being more carefully made, with greater consideration and planning than ever before. It seems inevitable that all this will lead to better buying decisions or at least decisions that reflect more closely organizational priorities and objectives. However, it also means [...]
When buyers and sellers meet they are often on the opposite site of a meeting room table. Their roles are as different as those of doctor and patient, or teacher and student. We often talk about buying as selling turned inside out. But just how much have buying and selling in common? More to the [...]
Most salespeople know that sales cycles are much longer than they used to be. But, if sales cycles are long, then buying cycles are even longer. As the Fortune 1000 buying process shows today’s buying decisions start earlier and finish later. The Conception Of The Purchase The genesis of the purchase is Step 1, the [...]
A recent poll of sellers shows that most are failing in terms of their knowledge of how customers buy. So, how good is your buying knowledge?
The patterns buyers use to search for solutions is of vital concern to salespeople. However, for too many salespeople buyers are searching in the wrong places!
Too many salespeople limit their success by adopting a myopic view of how their solutions will be employed by customers. In particular they fail to consider all those ingredients –particularly people and process – that are required to ensure their customer’s success. The Custmer Sees in 3 Dimensions: The customer has a problem, which as [...]
Organisations are increasingly organized, structured and careful in terms of how they buy. As salespeople we know this to be true. Yet, it is easy to underestimate just how sophisticated many buyers have become. Let us take the example of the buying process for major IT purchases in a large telco (as shown in the [...]
Professional buying has come of age, reaching new heights in terms of importance and sophistication. But what are the implications for sales people? In this article we turn to the UK Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and the US Institute of Supply Management to provide a new insight to the changing roles and perspectives [...]
To borrow from the lyrics of the popular song ‘buyers are doing it for themselves.’ They are ”standing on their own two feet and…’ identifying their requirements, defining the solution, writing the specification and building the business case. All this often takes place before they ever meet a vendor! This leaves the salesperson looking for a [...]
The professional salesperson is a student of buying. This is particularly important at a time when buying decisions have become increasingly complex. The success of a deal depends on understanding now only how the buying decision will be made, but also the business decision that so often underlies it. With this in mind we have put [...]
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