Selling in the B2B market is a very sophisticated process. You need to understand that there are a number of people, or possibly groups, that influence the B2B sale.
Today I want to step you through the most important influencer. Subsequent articles will talk about the other three influencers and how you can get to know and influence them.
There are four groups of people you have to pay attention to in any B2B sales situation. Each of these groups – it may be only one person in any of the groups, depending on the organization – has an influence on whether you will close the sale or not.
To disregard any one of these influencers will probably mean you will not make the sale. This is the real difference between consumer sales and B2B sales. An enterprise sale becomes more complex, because each of these influencing authorities has two agendas they need fulfilled.
Each of these people, or groups, is influenced by how your product or service will affect them personally in their job. They are also looking at how your product or service affects their company. They need to know they are making the right decision for themselves and their company.
They do not obviously want to hurt their career, and if you can help them advance their career, then you will be miles ahead of any competition. You have to convince so many people in a B2B sale, which is the reason the selling cycle takes so long.
These four influencers are.
1. The Financial Influencer(s)
2. The User Influencers
3. The Gatekeeper(s)
4. The Champion or Sponsor
Each of them is important, and each of them plays a very important role in whether their company will buy from you. Let’s first take a look at the Financial Influencer, and how this person or group will influence the buying decision.
The Financial Influencer
The financial influencer’s role is to give the final approval to buy. This is the Decision Maker; or as I like to call this person, The Cheque Signer. This role may consist of more than one person, such as an executive committee, and could even be the Board of Directors. It usually is more than one person in tough economic times. So, be very aware of that in a tough economy.
There are a number of reasons why this influencer may be a committee. The most important factor in the buying process is what impact your product has on the organization. Does your product affect a whole department? Does this department have to change the way they currently operate? If so, then it will probably affect more than one department.
The financial influencer is focusing on the bottom line and what influence your product does have on the organization. This influencer has the following characteristics.
• Has direct access to the dollars needed
• Can release the funds
• Has some discretionary use of funds
• Has a veto power
This influencer asks; “What kind of return will the company get on this investment?”
So, be aware of this when you are selling. This influencer has the most persuasion power of any of the other influencers. However, it is imperative to incorporate the other influencers into the process too. In fact, very few, if any, corporate decisions are made today, without the approval of all of the buying influencers.
Stay tuned. In the next three articles I will discuss each of these buyer influencers in detail, and what you have to do to ensure they are all onside in your B2B selling situation.
via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/influences-buying-decisions-b2b-sale-part-1-financial-influencer-0729576?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=influences-buying-decisions-b2b-sale-part-1-financial-influencer
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