Organizations are increasingly structuring their procurement in terms of key categories. This new state of play presents a range of opportunities, as well as challenges, for the seller. Above all else, it means the salesperson must work to make the category manager his or her friend. The following article shows how this can be achieved…
Maverick buying has been all but outlawed in most organizations, even for relatively small or routine purchases. Managers today know that, if they want to spend their company’s money, they are going to have to play by the rules…
“It was like The United Nations”, observed the sales director in describing the makeup of the sales team that had just arrived from his company’s consortium partner. Planning for preparing the multimillion-dollar bid was in full swing now that the team from the lead contractor in the consortium (a Fortune 1000 company) had arrived in its subsidiary partner’s boardroom…
Most traditional sales techniques presuppose that the sellers knows more than the buyer. However, this does not fit with reality in respect of most complex buying decisions.
All it takes is for one of the many CC’d recipients to raise a question, or a query to impact on the pace of the sale.
The modern buyer is a team, not an individual. Indeed, as the example shown earlier suggests, the roll call of all those involved in the buying decision is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the organization. The excerpt below highlights the number of levels involved in the buying decision, the seniority of the decision makers as [...]
When it comes to major buying decisions, managers are pulling rank. Senior managers are not just rubber-stamping buying decisions. They are taking an active role to ensure all major purchases underpin organizational goals, priorities and strategies. When Buyers Pull Rank All this means the job titles of those involved in making today’s major buying decisions [...]
Once upon a time a question like “who makes the buying decision?” was easy to answer; one or two names were typically sufficient to describe where the power lay. But this is no longer the case, and nowadays sellers almost need a map of organizational buying to reflect all those who make and shape the buying decision…
Buyer types and personalities features big in most sales books and training courses. After all, the buyer has a personality and that can also get in the way of the successful sale! A great many sales books and sales training courses tell the salesperson the he, or she must recognise and adapt to the [...]
There is a reason why buyers sit back and let salespeople do all the talking — it puts them in control. This is particularly the case because salespeople ask fewer questions when they are talking — questions that buyers may be slow to answer because of: • Political or other sensitivities. • Genuine information gaps. [...]
It is well worth taking a few minutes to check that your view of selling is the same as that of the buyer.
You may well be surprised to find that it is not!
Sellers have long been advised to adopt their sales approach to reflect the personality type of the buyer. But just how much can you tell from a limp handshake? Well if you put a lot of store in buyer personality types perhaps a lot! We are going to examine the four basic personality types in a moment, [...]
If you are you are feeling a little hard done by because of the way of the today’s buyer we have a message for you: ‘it is time to get real!’
The 4th of July may have come and gone, but for today’s more sophisticated buyers it is always Independence Day.
I had an interesting conversation last week with a professional buyer who joined a sales team selling into the transportation sector just before the markets went pop. Inevitably our conversation turned to 2010 and his very interesting resolution. Q: How has your organisation coped with the last 12 months? A: “We are alive and kicking and [...]
Buyers have heard it all before, which makes them a little more demanding. In short they are less forgiving when salespeople make any of the following mistakes: Not knowing enough about your own products, or the customer’s industry. The number one complaint of buyers is a lack of product knowledge on the part of sales [...]
Have you checked your spam folder recently? No doubt it is full to the brim of Viagra ads, weight loss methods, casinos and such utterly worthless messages. However, today’s definition of SPAM goes far beyond that of traditional junk mail to encompass most of today’s marketing. That is to say most marketing is viewed by [...]
I talked to a manager in one of the leading telemarketing agencies today. He told me of new offices opening worldwide and the addition of hundreds of new telemarketers. Needless I wished him and his team well. It was the only polite thing to do. However, privately I shuddered. Here is what I was really [...]
(a) Seniority Required When it comes to major buying decisions, managers are pulling rank. Senior managers are required to sign off on ever smaller purchases. They set the priorities and the budgets; if they can be sold on the business case then they have the power to ‘make it happen’. (a) The View At the [...]
The fact that decisions are being made at a higher level requires a totally different approach to selling. It can present many challenges for the salesperson, including access. Indeed, our experience of dozens of United Kingdom sales campaigns suggests it is 50% more difficult to access C level (CEO, CFO, or CTO) executives in major [...]
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