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about 3 years ago

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3 min read

#016: Which Buyers count?

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Hey, đź‘‹ Scott from The Sales Mastermind here.

Today’s edition only takes 3 minutes.

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Every sale involves four buying personas, but only one really matters.

Background

In 1985, Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman published “Strategic Selling”. It was a new methodology for how to sell.

Today, we are discussing their four buying personas to identify who is involved in the purchase.

The four personas of Miller-Heiman

The Economic Buyer (EC)

ECs can commit funds. They can say yes when everybody else says no and no when everybody else says yes.

ECs could be the CEO, Founder, MD or anyone who controls a profit and loss. ECs don’t spend money; they create the budget.

The User Buyer (Users)

An individual or group of people who will use your solution day-to-day.

Every B2B transaction is full of Users. This persona is the least important.

The Technical Buyer (TB)

TBs are involved in purchases to tick the boxes, cross the Ts and do the Is. TBs are not invested. They are just doing their job.

For example, a TB could be a lawyer checking the contract.

The Influencer or Internal Champion

Champions are anyone who has access to power (usually EBs) and is trying to influence the decision in your favour.

If there is an internal presentation, the Champion will present on your behalf.

Champions fall into a grey area as they can be Users, but probably not.

All four

Regardless of the number of people involved in any deal, all four personas are always present.

If you have only one buyer, they are all four personas. If you have 10, 20, or 50 “buyers,” no person may be any one persona, but each personas role is filled, overall.

Where to focus:

Firstly, Technical Buyers appear when they are needed. They do their job and will not waste time on you. Easy.

Wherever possible, always focus on Economic Buyers. EBs can say YES whenever everyone else says NO. Everyone else can only say NO.

Even if you get every User onboard, you still have to convince the EB to buy. So, focus on the EB.

EBs can and regularly ignore their Users when making buying decisions.

Never prioritise Users over EBs.

How to weed out Users in favour of EBs/Champions

Indirect signals

  • Most EBs have job titles like CXO, MD, VP of X
  • EBs and Champions are direct as they want to solve the problem or move on.
  • Quick movement is a strong indicator of an EB. They have problems to solve and want to solve them today.
  • Most EBs have competition for their time. If it’s too easy, they probably aren’t an EB.
  • Lastly, EBs often want their team to filter you before they get involved.

Next, here are three questions you could ask in a meeting:

“Assuming you like what you hear today. What happens, internally, to get a purchase across the line?”

There are only three answers:

  1. “I just joined. I don’t know.” Might be an EB. Keep digging.
  2. “After today, we’ll need to….” This is an EB or a Champion.
  3. Anything else - This is not an EB. Get to someone more senior.
“Last time you bought something, what did the approvals process look like?”

Again, only three answers:

  1. “I just joined. I don’t know.” Might be an EB. Keep digging.
  2. “We typically require a business case and…” This is an EB or a Champion.
  3. Anything else - This is not an EB. Get to someone more senior.
After they have just given you a buying deadline. Challenge on why this particular deadline.

There are only three answers (you’re probably sensing a theme):

  1. “When I joined, the mandate is to XXX, by YYY” This is a new EB or Champion.
  2. Anything specific, maybe investor-related, financial result timing, or even something personal like their wedding. This is probably an EB or Champion.
  3. Non-answer or anything non-specific - This is not an EB. Get to someone more senior.

LinkedIn Posts of the Week:

From Me

​​Buyers buyer on THEIR timeline, not ours​

From Manuel Hartmann

​Lessons from a sales founder going from $0 > 7 figures in 3 years​

Let me know what you think! it to a friend

Until next week,
Scott Cowley

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