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Use Your Software to Gather the Buying Center
The Buying Center is a group of individuals within the prospect’s company who affect the purchase decision. When selling a product, it’s important to think of selling the buying center, not just the decision maker. Too often sales people try to enlist a champion to do all the heavy lifting only to spend months waiting for something to happen. Even the best of champions need help in moving groups of people through a purchase decision. Using your contact management skills can help you and your champion to get a leg up on the buying center.
There are five groups in the buying center:
1. Users
Users are the people in the company who will be the end users of the product or service. Users initiate the request for a product. They also may define or identify the specifications that the new product or service must meet. A champion’s task is to get the users on board.
2. Influencers
Any person whose evaluation of the product will be used by the ultimate decision maker or someone in the chain of command to pass on approval is an influencer. Champions need to sway influencers to get their buy in.
3. Buyers
These individuals have been vested with the formal authority to make purchases for the organization. They often investigate the details of the product or service on their own in addition to cooperation with a champion.
4. Decision makers
These individuals actually make the purchase decision. It’s often the champion who is the decision maker. Decision makers seldom make their decisions in a vacuum. Resistance to change is a powerful force that requires the decision maker to get cooperation from the buying center.
5. Gatekeepers
A gatekeeper serves to protect a decision-maker or others in an organization from being harassed by unwanted communication with persons who wish to sway the decision-makers, influencers, buyers, or users. It’s often an administration function. It also can be a simple thing like voicemail.
Sales people are challenged with identifying the buying center and assisting the champion in persuading the buying center to buy. It may be two people or it may be two hundred people. Using contact management software is an excellent way to get the job done.
- Ask the decision maker for permission to gather the buying center’s contacts and information or ask for a list.
- Create new contact records for each member of the buying center. List the job title and department of the individual.
- Create new contact records for each member of the buying center. List the job title and department of the individual.
- Use email to forward product information to the buying center.
- Step by step disseminate your information to the buying center and handle the objections that come forth. Don’t wait for the stall. Be proactive and motivate the buying center throughout the whole process.
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