A buying model must account for the most difficult scenarios that a seller may encounter. We believe that this is a buying situation where the buyers’ problem is complex and difficult to solve. Further, it must assume that the product, service, and/or solution being sold is conceptual or intangible to the buyer, and perceived to be expensive. Finally, it must assume that a formal or ad-hoc committee will be making the decision. Such a model is described below.
Setup of Buying Model
The diagram below depicts the setup of the Buying Model. Note that the Y-axis defines the
buyer’s level of concern, while the
X-axis represents time. The time
period depicted represents the duration of the buy cycle.
Buying Stages
Notice too that over time buyers progress through five distinct stages.
In the first stage there is recognition by the buyer of what we
call a “background” critical business issue (CBI). In this stage, the buyer recognizes that they have a
particular critical business issue, but there is little interest or ability to
resolve it at that time. Note
though that it is a critical business issue. So why does the buyer shove it in the background of their
mind? Why do they not work now
towards its successful resolution?
There can be a number of reasons:
· The buyer may just have too many other pressing critical business
issues that they are working on, and simply do not have the time or ability to
take on another. In essence, it
goes to the bottom of the queue.
· The buyer may have taken the time to look for a solution to the
critical business issue, and concluded that there is not an acceptable one out
there at this time.
· The buyer may have taken the time to look for a solution, found
one (or more) and concluded it is in the “too much” category…
o
Too much cost
o
Too much time
o
Too much risk.
· In a worst-case scenario, the buyer may have found and bought a
solution, but failed with the implementation. These buyers commonly blame their vendor for this situation
and are understandably “gun shy” when comes to future pursuit of a resolution.
The second stage is known as “discovery.” In this stage the buyer’s Background CBI
moves the to the foreground, i.e., in the mind of the buyer s/he feels they
must resolve the CBI and do so soon.
The reasons for this movement to the foreground could be numerous: The boss says it is important and needs
to be solved, a new solutions comes to market, the buyer resolves one or more
issues and the CBI that had been in the background moves to the foreground,
etc. It is in this stage that the
buyer analyzes why they believe they are having the CBI, and identifies the set
of capabilities (collectively, the solution to the problem) they need to solve
it.
Once the buyer develops a vision of a solution to their problem in
Stage 2, a great deal of analysis is done on the part of the buyer to determine
if there is a vendor/provider who can provide the capabilities they need,
whether it can be done meeting ROI expectations, whether it can meet their time
frame, etc. Let’s take a look at
the implications internally on making these changes. It’s a great deal of
analytical work gets done. In stage four, two important things happen. The
buyer says “Do I want to do this; or not?”
Stage 4 is characterized by risk. It is here where the buyer is getting ready to make a go/no
go decision because they are confronted by the time, effort, expense, and risk
if they actually do move forward. A
decision is made as to whether to not look back and go forward with a provider,
or not go forward at all. That’s decision time. There’s also an interesting thing that happens in this
stage. The buyer says, “Am I
getting the best value for my buck? Can I squeeze these guys (i.e., the sales organization)?” Once these decisions are made a
contract is signed.
Once the decision is made, the buyer moves into Stage 5. Here the solution is implemented and,
as a roll-out proceeds, the benefits are measured.
In the posts that follow we'll take a closer look at the three major concerns that buyers have throughout the buy cycle: The Solution, the Value, and the Risk. And, by understanding this, we'll see how sellers can better align with their buyers and win significantly more business!
In the posts that follow we'll take a closer look at the three major concerns that buyers have throughout the buy cycle: The Solution, the Value, and the Risk. And, by understanding this, we'll see how sellers can better align with their buyers and win significantly more business!
