Not Understanding Who The "Buyers" Are
In working with clients, whether you are interviewing for that consultative position or discussing a large engagement for your services, consultants overlook the mere fact that there are at least 3 people involved in making the decision.
It used to be - over 10 years ago if I had to place a time frame on it - that the rallying call was to get to the Economic Buyer. The Economic Buyer Comes from Miller-Heiman's book Strategic Selling which basically means, the person who actually releases the funds, the ultimate decision maker. Sure, Miller-Heiman's book also outlines three (3) other types of Buyers - all very important in the sale, but if you didn't get to this Economic Buyer, the chances of selling your services - explaining the value you bring and the results you will drive - considerably impacted the probability of getting the business (winning). This is still true today - however - my contention is: decisions are being pushed down the organization.
Depending on the size of the sale, the other three (3) Buyers are as critical, if not more critical today. Why? Because the Economic Buyer in many cases relies on his or her teammates for their ideas, opinions and expertise. Further, these other Buyers - (some people call them recommenders) - actually make the decision, because the Economic Buyer is a leader of an organization, who is usually a Project Manager, Department Head, CFO, CIO, or someone who "owns" the business, knows that the services will have to be successfully implemented by his or her teammates.
The key word is "successfully."
The services in many cases, will not be successfully implemented without the help of the leader's team. Therefore the leader (still the Economic Buyer) knows he needs those people's input and actual "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on the person/firm who is going to help them.
OK, so what am I saying?
What I am saying is, the more critical people to get to, are those who are at the "lower rungs" of the ladder in the organization. Your job is getting to these people, understanding their needs, the way they are evaluating services/consultants, the way they view you, and understanding their criteria for making a decision. Andother key piece of information here is: each person actually may be making a decision with criteria that are completely different than the other person.
Let me repeat this; each person actually may be making a decision with criteria that are completely different than the other person.
A Real Life Example - Simple But True
This is a real life example, while it is simple, it is true and it drives home the point.
A consultant we were placing at a large technology firm met all the position requirements outlined by the Economic Buyer. The Economic Buyer reviewed the CV and qualifications of the person (the paper) and asked to set up an interview and review of the person's qualifications with one of his project teammates.
The person who interviewed our consultant was not someone we knew. When we asked this person if he had a copy of the position requirements written up by his manager he said "No. It wouldn't be necessary."
We asked him, "Well what will you be interviewing him for?"
His response was something that had no correlation to the position description his boss had outlined. It was out of left field. But it was something that was top of mind to this manager who would have to work alongside our consultant to get the project completed.
Needless to say, in case you have to know, we lost the business, because this person interviewing our consultant, voted "thumbs down."
But the lesson was a valuable one. The person who sends out the request, may be the manager and the buyer with the money (funds). But the real buyer, the one with the authority to allow the project to move onto the next round of decisions, may be the person sitting further down the org chart.
Get to know these people and what is important to them. This is the message and is key to avoiding the first of these 10 Mistakes.
In working with clients, whether you are interviewing for that consultative position or discussing a large engagement for your services, consultants overlook the mere fact that there are at least 3 people involved in making the decision.
It used to be - over 10 years ago if I had to place a time frame on it - that the rallying call was to get to the Economic Buyer. The Economic Buyer Comes from Miller-Heiman's book Strategic Selling which basically means, the person who actually releases the funds, the ultimate decision maker. Sure, Miller-Heiman's book also outlines three (3) other types of Buyers - all very important in the sale, but if you didn't get to this Economic Buyer, the chances of selling your services - explaining the value you bring and the results you will drive - considerably impacted the probability of getting the business (winning). This is still true today - however - my contention is: decisions are being pushed down the organization.
Depending on the size of the sale, the other three (3) Buyers are as critical, if not more critical today. Why? Because the Economic Buyer in many cases relies on his or her teammates for their ideas, opinions and expertise. Further, these other Buyers - (some people call them recommenders) - actually make the decision, because the Economic Buyer is a leader of an organization, who is usually a Project Manager, Department Head, CFO, CIO, or someone who "owns" the business, knows that the services will have to be successfully implemented by his or her teammates.
The key word is "successfully."
The services in many cases, will not be successfully implemented without the help of the leader's team. Therefore the leader (still the Economic Buyer) knows he needs those people's input and actual "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on the person/firm who is going to help them.
OK, so what am I saying?
What I am saying is, the more critical people to get to, are those who are at the "lower rungs" of the ladder in the organization. Your job is getting to these people, understanding their needs, the way they are evaluating services/consultants, the way they view you, and understanding their criteria for making a decision. Andother key piece of information here is: each person actually may be making a decision with criteria that are completely different than the other person.
Let me repeat this; each person actually may be making a decision with criteria that are completely different than the other person.
A Real Life Example - Simple But True
This is a real life example, while it is simple, it is true and it drives home the point.
A consultant we were placing at a large technology firm met all the position requirements outlined by the Economic Buyer. The Economic Buyer reviewed the CV and qualifications of the person (the paper) and asked to set up an interview and review of the person's qualifications with one of his project teammates.
The person who interviewed our consultant was not someone we knew. When we asked this person if he had a copy of the position requirements written up by his manager he said "No. It wouldn't be necessary."
We asked him, "Well what will you be interviewing him for?"
His response was something that had no correlation to the position description his boss had outlined. It was out of left field. But it was something that was top of mind to this manager who would have to work alongside our consultant to get the project completed.
Needless to say, in case you have to know, we lost the business, because this person interviewing our consultant, voted "thumbs down."
But the lesson was a valuable one. The person who sends out the request, may be the manager and the buyer with the money (funds). But the real buyer, the one with the authority to allow the project to move onto the next round of decisions, may be the person sitting further down the org chart.
Get to know these people and what is important to them. This is the message and is key to avoiding the first of these 10 Mistakes.
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