Challenging the Buyer – Why Would You?

With the power of the internet being used by everyone who has a product or service to buy it is up to the salesperson to identify whether or not the offering that they have will fulfil the real needs of the buyer.

So what type of buyers do we have? To keep it relatively simple I have classed them as Professional or Amateur.

By professional this could refer to large businesses in the construction or engineering sectors or businesses such as specialist medical companies and supermarket department buyers who understand and know their subjects as well, if not better than some of the people trying to sell to them. These buyers:-Knowledge

Know the product/service            

Will know ‘must haves’ & ‘nice to haves’

Amateur buyers on the other hand could be the MD of a small to medium sized business and although they may be specialists in their own subjects they are not specialists in the products and services that they need to buy. The amateur buyer will search the internet to find a product or service that they think they need and then put together a specification. They will then contact 3 or 4 suppliers and ask them to quote to the specification. These buyers

Think they know the product/service

Often think ‘nice to haves’ are ‘must haves’

Have a prepared specification

The professional buyer will listen to experts & professionals for ideas before finalising specification and buys predominantly with rational motives however, it is still essential for a sales person to carry out a full needs analysis to give the buyer confidence that they are making the right decision, after all the sales person is also meant to be a specialist in the products or services that they sell and the professional buyer will look to the salesperson for anything new in that particular field, so not doing a full needs analysis will leave the buyer feeling less confident in that particular salesperson.

On the other hand the amateur buyer buys predominantly with emotional motives and can over or under specify for what they think they need but find that once purchased the products or services from the salesperson do not meet their businesses needs. And guess who they will blame in this situation – the supplier, and in particular the salesperson. So it is necessary to complete a full needs analysis ensure that the product or service will meet the business requirements and may even mean the buyer produces a saving against budget.

Contact Paul for more information on positive selling 

About Paul Clayton FInstSMM

Paul is a business development coach, mentor & trainer specialising in high growth strategy planning & implementation. He believes that to consistently develop and grow a business customers must be the focus of everything it does, with planned, positive action taken to continuously improve its people & processes.

Paul offers a complimentary, no obligation review of your business to identify & assess what steps may be needed to achieve your success. If you would like to take up this offer call Paul on 01529 413476 or email him at paul@healdi.co.uk for a preliminary discussion and to arrange the review.