Know the Why Behind Your Buyer
Good morning,
If this is your first time reading the Action Item, welcome! Subscribe and forward to someone you think would benefit from this newsletter. We often hear about different buyer archetypes and personas. But being capable of identifying why the buyers are a certain archetype and are in-market for your product/service in the first place is a skill that goes a long way. Let’s dive in.
Serve me – The buyer knows what they want and is essentially taking an order from you.
Not to make you feel less special, but your buyer likely already understands what you’re selling, has experience with products / services similar to you, and has allocated budget to whatever you’re selling.
Help them ensure you can meet their requirements and to do everything possible to ensure you’re executing on their needs.
For deals that, upon reflection, were delivered to you on a silver spoon, strive to ensure your client understands the full opportunity. But don’t overdo it. The reality of these types of buyers is that they may be less interested in your thought leadership and more interested in a more transactional relationship.
Guide me – The buyer wants to improve something within their business but needs clarity or a roadmap on how to accomplish this.
They need guidance on what the best solution is to meet their needs (but they may not fully understand what they need).
This buyer probably only has a basic understanding of what you offer and thus may or may not have funds allocated to purchase your product/service.
Take the time to understand their business objectives, help them navigate their options, identify key considerations, and build an action plan. Buyers seeking guidance need deliverables or in-person explanations to help them make the right decision.
Fix me – The buyer needs to be shown the quickest path of how to fix / improve their situation
There’s something wrong that needs to be fixed and your client was unlikely prepared.
Don’t go extremely deep in the details, just prove to your client you can get the job done. Build trust and rapport through speed, candor, and thought leadership.
Transform me – The buyer needs to transform their perspective and/or their business
Because the buyer journey for this type of customer is long, you likely need to sell aspects of the sales process multiple times.
The selling process may not feel like it should be this complex, but for a variety of reasons on your client’s side (internal stakeholders, tech stack, resources, etc.), it’s challenging to move quickly.
Because this type of client lacks context on your product / service, you’ll need to provide support, data, and compelling reasoning to justify their investment in your product/service
The longer the sales process and the more complex your product/service, the more you’ll need to become an expert in selling transformational growth.
Go into your next client or stakeholder meeting knowing where they fall into one of these four buckets. Tailor your agenda, your deliverables, and your demeanor accordingly. Win the meeting.
Almost two-thirds (65%) of sellers say they “always” put the buyer first (source). If that number seems low to you, it is– sellers indicate that their organizations are a barrier to implementing buyer-first behaviors. Of course senior sales leaders need to do better re: incentives. But– when done thoughtfully– sellers can also bubble up feedback to leaders with actionable recommendations and show up as customer-centric thought leaders.