Is Your Sales Approach Aligned with the Buyer?

Years ago, I received a call from the environmental manager at a large manufacturing facility. He was interested in outsourcing operation of their wastewater treatment plant and wondered if that's something our firm could do. I was happy to respond that we could.

This seemed the breakthrough I had been waiting for. I had pursued this client, located in the small town where I lived, for years. Yet we had only been awarded a few small contracts. I called a couple experts in our firm and invited them to come to Colorado to meet with the client. I was about to learn another painful lesson about the need to understand where the client is in the buying process.

My biggest mistake was failing to account for the other decision makers involved—what's often called the "complex sale." My contact had done his homework and come to the conclusion that outsourcing was the way to go. So our team came prepared to talk about how that transaction would take place. But besides my contact, we would be meeting with the facility manager, engineering manager, and wastewater plant operator. And I had no idea what to expect from them.

Research suggests that people go through five stages in making a purchase decision (or most any kind of decision). These are:

1. Recognize the problem or need
2. Search for information about both the need and possible solutions
3. Evaluate the possible alternatives
4. Make a decision (or purchase)
5. Assess the decision (post-purchase evaluation)

In selling, it's important to recognize where in this process the buyer is and to align your approach accordingly. In the complex sale, of course, different buyers can be (and often are) in different stages of the decision process.

You can guess where this story goes. The environmental manager was ready to make a decision, and we came prepared to help him do just that. The facilities manager, however, was still searching for information, aware that there were problems but not sure what course of action to take. The engineering manager was a little further along, considering various options, with one being outsourcing...but he was leaning against that option. Finally, the operator was incredulous. "What's the problem?" he wanted to know.

It was a rancorous meeting, one we were hardly prepared to moderate. The outsourcing opportunity never materialized, nor did any other contracts with this client. My primary contact, the environmental manager, left the company shortly afterwards to become a consultant. Perhaps he thought he could do a better job than we did that day!

Obviously, I could have handled the situation better. Before committing to flying people from different parts of the country, I should have asked what concerns or questions the other decision makers might have had about the outsourcing option. If my contact didn't know (and he seemed surprised at their resistance in the meeting), that would have been a red flag suggesting that more consensus building was needed before pitching a final solution.

But I'm not alone in making such mistakes. In my experience, not many sellers among A/E and environmental firms excel in managing the complex sale. It takes time and can be difficult to navigate at times. That's all the more reason to give it priority. Understanding the players involved and where they are in the buying process enables you to calibrate your sales approach to maximize your chances of success.