In complex B2B sales, research shows that more and more decision makers are needed to make the sale. The recent CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization report showed that 76% of B2B deals involved three or more decision makers. Thirteen percent had six or more.
This can be seen as a challenge or an opportunity for a salesperson. Sales conversations with multiple buyers can work for you or against you. Here are a couple of scenarios to consider:
Your Thinking is Too Small
Multiple buyers work against you if you’re aligning your solution with too small of a problem. If you haven’t uncovered the largest business problem in your discovery process, then you will have an uphill battle trying to get buy-in from executives from different departments.
Your Buyer is Thinking Too Small
As a salesperson, multiple buyers can work in your favor if your buyer is limiting him or herself to a small solution that won’t fix the larger business problem. Bringing in others from the company can help draw the critical links needed to steer the conversation towards solving that issue with the largest business impact.
Some sellers rejoice when there are multiple buyers in the room because it avoids them being put in the vendor box. (Oh, you sell software? Speak to the IT department). Others realize that multiple decision makers may slow the sales cycle and demand more work on the sales person. No matter how many decision makers are in your sales conversation, you need to create a common language that drives consistency in front of the customer. Think of this common language as a currency of value.
Let’s say I’m selling a solution that addresses three major problems along the customer pain chain. There’s a user-level concern, a manager-level concern and an executive-level concern. The good news is my solution is very customer-centric and offers value at each one of these levels. However, the challenge is that I have to make sure I acknowledge these different concerns throughout my sales process. I need to adjust my conversation buyer to buyer to buyer, in a way that speaks to the positive business outcomes each one is trying to achieve.
In order to close opportunities with multiple decision makers, you need a common currency of value that ensures everyone is “heard” throughout the sales process. With each buyer, you need to ensure you alleviate the Seller Deficit Disorder by demonstrating you are listening to and understanding their business pains. You can’t assume the first person you talked to did the selling for you. You have to leverage your value currency throughout your sales conversations.
What’s the Currency?
Your currency is the positive business outcomes (PBOs), the required capabilities and the metrics that you use to align your solution with your buyer needs. These areas are great currency in the eyes of the customer. They focus the buyer and you as the seller, on the problem you’re trying to solve.
PBOs are business oriented. Required capabilities are technical in nature. Metrics tend to have a higher-level focus. They all morph and become even more pervasive the higher you go up in the organization. In my sales conversations, they help me execute the language of the customer.
When you move through multiple decision makers in your buying organization, you need to determine the PBOS, the required capabilities, and the metrics that are important to each buyer. Approach each decision maker as a new discovery opportunity. Are the PBOs, required capabilities, and metrics others indicated as important just as important to this particular decision maker? If not, you need to determine and understand the discrepancy.
Use these three key components of the sales conversation as the common value currency that helps you maneuver through multiple decision makers. They’ll keep you focused on buyer needs and on aligning your solution with high business value.
I know the research continually shows that multiple decision makers are factoring into the B2B sales process more and more. However, I believe they’ve always been there, whether you as the salesperson had to deal with them or not.
Bottom line: I’d be worried if there was only one decision maker in my deal. If there is, you’re likely minimizing the value capability inside the account opportunity.
