In Anatomy of a Buying Decision, we talked about developing a list or a ‘set of the hurdles’ that represent the milestones that customers in your market typically have to get over in order to evaluate, select, and buy the types of products and services you sell. As we maintain and enhance this standard model of a buying process, we can compare each opportunity against it to make sure we are not missing anything. Most of the events and activities identified to be part of any particular buying process will relate to the standard hurdles that we know customers in our market typically need to get over in order to buy.
We need to leverage each and every event or interaction to learn more about their buying process, both what will need to happen, as well as who within our customer’s organization will be involved. We should also use each event to further qualify the opportunity to make sure that they can and will take action once all of the hurdles are cleared.
In Anatomy of a Buying Decision, I pointed out that we must take the time to ask key questions to understand which hurdles they may have already cleared, or at least started working on, before we got involved in the process. These buying hurdles listed below (from the sample buying process presented in Anatomy of a Buying Decision) represent some of the little decisions that are often made, or at least considered, before our customer starts any aspect of vendor evaluation or Source Decision. Here are some of the questions that can help us to better determine whether we are dealing with a top- down or a bottom-up initiative. The answers to these questions will also reveal where your customer is in their overall buying process. The A, C, R, and S before each hurdle indicate that hurdle is an element of the Action, Course, Resource, and Source Decisions, respectively.
Standard Buying Hurdles
Questions We Can Ask to Better UnderstandC-Make vs. Buy = Buy
‘Is there any chance you might just decide to make this yourself?’R-Project oversight established
‘Who will ultimately have responsibility for the success of this project?’C-Feasibility study complete
‘How did you decide that this is the best approach to addressing this issue?’R-Funds allocated
‘Is this something you’ve budgeted for, or will you have to go through a capital requisition process?’
We should use any needs analysis or opportunity assessment we conduct to evaluate our customer’s specific functional business needs to better understand their buying process as well. If we have the opportunity to meet with decision makers and influencers in our discovery process, we can weave in a few questions about the buying process as we go along. We can also use an early meeting with Finance to discuss where they are with the allocation or appropriation of funds, as well as what will need to happen before they can get the funding secured.
As we work through the various events and meetings, we also want to understand as much as we can about the other ‘small’ decisions they will be faced with moving forward. We should ask questions about the other buying hurdles they will probably have to clear, after they complete the vendor selection and the Source Decision, but before they can actually pull the trigger and buy. Some good questions might be:
Standard Buying Hurdles
Questions We Can Ask to Better UnderstandR-Project staffed
‘How does your company make decisions about the allocation of manpower resources?’R-ROI justification approved
‘How do you plan to justify the investment?’
‘Will you have to submit a ROI analysis with the Capital Appropriation Request (CAR)?’R-Funding secured
‘What is the process to secure the funding?‘ S-Contract approved by Legal
‘Your legal department won’t have to get involved, will they?’C-Proof-of-concept successful
‘Who gives the thumbs-up on the proof-of-concept?’A-Board of directors approval
‘Will the final approval come from your CEO, or does the board of directors (BOD) have to approve something of this size?’‘When is the next scheduled BOD meeting?’
‘How does this decision get onto the docket?’
A-Contract executed
‘If we get that far, who will actually sign the contract?’
In addition to what needs to happen, we also need to start building our knowledge of who will be involved in the various stages of the process. Some sample questions might include:
- ‘Who has to submit the Capital Appropriation Request?’
- ‘Who approves that request?’
- ‘Who has to sign off on the legal aspects of the contract?’
In fact, it is helpful to simply ask, ‘Who will be involved in that?’ after every one of the questions recommended above.
The names and roles of the individuals involved should be collected and arranged into an organization chart that you maintain and add to as you learn about and meet more of the ‘players’ who will make or influence any aspect of the decision. A thorough organization chart, is one of the most important documents of a successful sales campaign. You’re probably already drawing these out for each of the qualified opportunities in your pipeline. But I would like to offer at least one suggestion . . .
As you develop and maintain your client’s organization chart, make note of not just the name and title of the people you meet and learn about, but the role they play in the process. Try to get as clear an under- standing as possible of exactly what function they will serve in the overall process, as well as an understanding of their unique perception of value. What do they stand to gain if you win? What do they stand to lose if you win? It’s not just, ‘Have you met them?’ and ‘Do they like us?’ The question is ‘What are they in a position to influence?’ and ‘What’s in it for them?’ We will need this information as we build out our plan moving forward.