Buyers Don’t Buy Because You Sell Well

top-secretBuyers buy when they want to resolve a business problem.

Buyers buy when all of the members of their decision team – all of the members – agree that it’s time to resolve a problem.

Buyers buy when their internal system – their culture – knows how to make room for something new without disrupting the status quo.

Buyers never buy on price unless everything looks equal.

Sales people waste their intellectual capital by merely focusing on pushing a solution: they know so much about the environment their product resides in that they can be true decision facilitators for buyers.

When buyers begin the process of resolving a problem, they do not know the full extent of their needs.

When buyers begin the process of resolving a problem, they do not know the sorts of buy-in issues they will have to contend with on their way to group buy-in.

When sellers try to understand a prospect’s needs, they are coming in too early in the buyer’s decision cycle, before the buyer has gathered their full Buying Decision Team and before they have found internal agreement to change. And they are ignoring the system that the need resides in.

Any purchase means change for a buyer, and the buyer must follow the rules of change management before a purchase.

Sales does not address the off-line, behind-the-scenes, private decisions that buyers must make prior to their ability to purchase anything.

Sellers mistakenly believe that if they understand the problem/need, and their solution can resolve the need, their job is to ‘get in’ and make a case. That is not the way, or the reason, buyers buy. A buyer does not buy because they have a need for a seller’s solution.

Have I piqued your interest? Stay tuned. My new book handles all of the above.

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If you’d like me to write a White Paper for you on understanding the decision issues your buyers face, please email me at sharondrew@newsalesparadigm.com.

Check out my new book coming out October 15: Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what to do about it. Read two free chapters. Sign up for presales deals, and announcements.

Or have a look at my book Buying Facilitation:the new way to sell that inluences and expands decisionsClick here for two free chapters. It will teach you how to understand and manage the route through the internal decision process. Will it help you make a sale? Maybe. Maybe not. But it sure will help you make a client.

2 thoughts on “Buyers Don’t Buy Because You Sell Well”

  1. I like your enthusiasm and you make some good points. However, what you state is not always true. Sometimes, the buyer buys because the sales person touches a nerve. This is especially true when you work for an IBM, HP,CA, or BMC. If you get to the decision maker and make your case, you win regardless of the team.

    I like your article but one should be careful stating absolutes.

  2. Pingback: Understanding customers doesn’t help the buyer buy | Sharon-Drew Morgen

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