How do you find decision makers within an organization? In this article, you'll learn not only how to find them, but you'll also be able to qualify four types of buying influencers and work with their decision-making roles.
In smaller sales, there are generally only one or two decision makers. Complex sales however, involve multiple people to provide input or approval before a final decision is made. These decision-makers are often hidden, creating two types of road blocks for advancing the sale --first, identifying all of the various decision-makers accurately, and secondly, determining which role each plays in advancing the sale.
In every sale, there are four vital buying roles. There may be anywhere from one to several dozen who play a part in making a decision, but no matter how many are involved, they still play one of four roles. It's the job of the sales professional to find and qualify all the decision makers in the four roles.
Four Buying Roles:
1. Financial Buyer
The role of the Financial buyer has the final authority to buy. There's always at least one person who plays this role, but it may also be a group or committee. This role has the economic power to release money. They can say "Yes" when everyone has said "No," or say "No" when everyone else has agreed to move forward.
2. Performance Buyer
The role of the Performance buyer is to assess the effect of your product or service on outcomes such as job performance, usability, efficiency, or effectiveness. Performance Buyers are typically those who will use or supervise your product or service and make decisions based on how well your offering increases their personal day-to-day success. In most complex sales, there are several Performance Buyers involved in judging performance.
3. Specification Buyer
The role of the Specification Buyer is to screen out potential vendors. Their focus is how well your product or service conforms to compliance issues, specifications, or any other inhibitors such as technical compatibility. Specification Buyers don't have the power to give a final "Yes," but can be the final "No" if standards or specs aren't a match. There are usually several Specification Buyers involved in assessing the technical aspects of a specific sales goal.
4. Guide
The unique role of a Guide is to lead you to other buying roles, particularly hidden influencers, and provide vital information in order to successfully position yourself with each one. Guides are also unique in that they may be found within your target organization, in your own organization, or through networking outside of both. Guides help you to win, thereby creating a personal win for themselves. For each sales objective, find and develop at least one Guide.
Buying Influencers
Buying influencers are people who play one of the four buying roles as they each have varying levels of influence on the outcome of the sale. For example the role of the Financial Buyer is called the Financial Influencer; Specification Buyers are Specification Influencers, Performance Buyers are Performance Influencers. Guides are uniquely, Guides. Buying Influencers are not only traditional Buyers within an organization such as purchasing agents, but also those who have a voice in buying decisions. Organizations involved in larger, complex selling situations share responsibilities for making decisions among several influencers to reduce risk in making a poor decision, and to spread risk among constituents for sharing the glory or blame.
The Secret to Success: Focus on Buying Roles
Foundations for a sound sales strategy in involve knowing who you should be talking to. This is an obvious statement, but an often overlooked step when qualifying within a complex sale. You may have found the Financial Influencer, but there are three other influencers who could affect your success. Don't assume that you know whose approvals are necessary each time. There are too many shifts in buying responsibilities to be certain with each sale. Too many sales people wind up talking to those with whom they're comfortable, those who've approved orders in the past, or those who have the right titles next to their names. Even whenl ed to the right influencers, it doesn't help you understand why they were selected for becoming involved in this particular sale. Assume that every sale is unique. To develop a systematic way to qualify and locate each buying influencer for each sales objective, focus on the four buying roles, not contacts, within each sale. All four roles could be played by one person, or any combination of people in each role. One way or another, there are always four roles played out in the final decision.
Finding Financial Buyers
The Financial Buying Influencer is the one who gives the final approval to buy. The role of this influencer is to release the economic power for a purchase.
Financial Buying Influencers are by nature, in the upper stratosphere within an organization. In smaller organizations, the owner, CEO, or President may play the role. Financial roles can shift from sale to sale and will depend on five critical decision variables—the final cost to participate in your offering, experience with you and your organization, experience with your product or service, business conditions, and potential impact of your offerings on the bottom line.
Finding Performance Buyers
Performance Buyers evaluate the impact of your product or service on a specific job to be done. You may already know what segment of an organization your product or service will impact, but you need to ask who will be involved in evaluating performance. In most complex sales, there will usually be several Performance Buyers, but ultimately one who has more clout than the others. It might include the manager of a department with several subordinates, an R & D manager, and a technical administrator as a unit of Performance Buyers. If you haven't convinced the key Performance Buyer, it will be very difficult to confirm the sale. Their input carries significant weight with Financial Buyers. They know that if the people using the product or service aren't sold, it's an invitation to disaster. Expect non-believers to be resentful or even sabotage your product's success. Performance Buyers ask questions related to reliability, ease of use, training, safety, track record, maintenance, down time, and impact on attitudes or morale. They're looking for solutions to make their job easier while being more productive.
Finding Specification Buyers
While Performance Buyers can be difficult, Specification Buyers are difficult. In fact, it's their job. Specification Buyers are more difficult to locate than other Influencers not only because of their screening role, but they often "run interference" for the Financial Buyer. In some cases, Specification Buyers claim to be THE Financial Buyer with final approval. Some assume this power deliberately to protect the Financial Buyer, but others are more confused about their power, mostly brought on by the Financial Buyer.
Let's say a Financial Buyer named Hank said to his Spec Buyer Mary Lou: I'll go with your recommendation Mary Lou, but run it by me first. This can easily lead to a well-intended Specification Buyer who has misunderstood her role. To clear the air, ask, Are there others involved in the decision that we need to consult with before moving forward? If the Financial Buyer is mentioned, ask for the three of you to get together so that you're all working with the same information. If you're blocked, then ask, Does Hank usually go along with your recommendation? Get a Yes commitment. It's human nature for Mary Lou to want to honor her word with you. She will go to bat for you in ways you hadn't imagined.
The reason you'll get a thumb's up or down from a Spec Buyer is because of the product or service itself. Spec Buyers ask, "How well have you passed our screen test criteria?" The more you know your product and understand all the screening variables it might have to pass, the greater the likelihood for getting a Spec Buyer's strong recommendation. To avoid further confusion, cultivate a relationship with a Guide.
Finding Guides
Every complex sale needs a Guide, someone who can help you navigate your way through the myriad of decision makers. Finding Guides is different than locating other Buying Influencers. Other Influencers already exist, if not formally named, at least in potential. They need to be identified by asking questions of the Influencers and your Guide. But your Guide doesn't exist until you've not only found one, but also created and developed the role. Guides can be found in your prospect organization, within your own, or outside of both. In locating a good Guide, use three criteria for judging effectiveness.
1. Do you have credibility with this person? Perhaps the Guide has seen you in action in the past or is a satisfied customer. Your data base of customer advocates is a good place to start to find Guides.
2. Does the guide have sufficient credibility within your prospect's organization? Someone without credibility won't be a strong liaison to Buying Influencers and the quality of the information passed on may be unreliable. Since there's often considerable cross-over in buying roles, you may find an excellent Guide who's also a Performance Buyer. Ideally the Financial Influencer would become your Guide as well.
3. Does the Guide want you to succeed? He or she could be a mentor within your organization, a friend, or anyone who believes that your win in this sale enhances their personal self-interest. A Guide could be a manager in your organization who's had experience with this account in the past, knows Buying Influencers, and can open doors.
Converting Guides
Good guides have to be created. You might not find a perfect fit with these three criteria, but you may find someone who has the potential of being developed. Very often it's an administrative assistant, a supervisor, someone in HR, an R & D specialist, or anyone who can give you access to other influencers. Test your candidates by asking for them to guide or coach you in making the appropriate contacts. More often than not, these people have been hired to help facilitate contacts. Don't ask your Guide to do your selling for you or ask for a referral, but rather ask for guidance in who to talk to. By asking for guidance or direction, referrals come naturally.
The bottom line in sales success is to focus on finding all those who play a role as one of four buying influencers and addressing their decision-making criteria. It will take your sales performance from good to great!
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