Remain alert in the hunt as a sales team: The buyer’s profile is shape-changing often
Arun Pillai, March 25, 2019
The value proposition of the ‘ideal buyer’ holds the key to understanding the process of buying. It might involve an entire team of people. You may have to deal with people at varying levels.
Often, it is not a single person but a staff that may have decision makers before any approvals are made. How exactly this can be understood with the analogy of a hunting expedition is explained in this post.
The hunter’s game plan
A hunting team plans well in advance before going out for the expedition to make the kill. Often it takes days and nights of doing recce and understanding the behavior patterns and visibility of the preys in specific locations.
When the pattern is established, the plan is made to get the animal – either a big tiger or a couple of small rabbits and partridges. The success rate of getting the quarries rest on the plan, execution, number of people involved in hunting down the prey. As a prudent marketer you may have guessed that:
- The recce and behavior patterns of buyers refer to the research, and analysis of the niche market.
- Specific locations refer to the territories to explore in advance with a dedicated team. The potential buyers hail from these regions and need your products.
- The big tiger refers to the large companies and small animals relate to the mid-sized enterprises level to attack.
- Success rate depends on how well you have researched the buyer, area and needs. The buyer here represents not a single individual but could be a group of people. They could be involved collectively in the buying process process. This group could comprise of researchers, influencers, evaluators and approvers.
A dream team can get positive results. Salesmen can get the acquisitions with the best practices and a buying team with the right processes, just like the hunter who is on top of his game with a top focus on the job.
- Buying team comprises of the group of people who will be involved in the decision making process. They lead the pack when it comes to discussing the approvals.
- Buying process begins when the decisions and approvals have been made. The group will have several activities that will define and later execute the actions.
How marketers leverage the role play
When a group of decision makers are involved the marketing team needs a fool proof planning to get the account or service it with regular offerings. Each member is important as he/she makes the difference to the exercise.
| Buying team | Relationship with you |
| The final decision maker | Tap the account on a personal level to get the order. They take the risk of dealing with you. |
| The backers-supporters | Any team in the hunt requires a group who will actually attract the quarry towards you. These people will add muscle to the decision and the risk involved. |
| Neutral spectators | Although influential they may take a backseat. They let the aggressive ones do the talking. |
| Those who keep an eye on competition | These are active team members who cannot be ignored. They have the knowledge and skills to counter the deals. Keeping them in the loop is most useful |
| The competitive edge | Every company has a member or two who will take risks head on with competition. Watch out for their contribution towards your success. |
As we sum up the outline of the hunter’s mesh we need to return once more to the buyer persona stage. Just like the hunter who prepares different camouflages to attract the quarry, can different profiles be useful? How can a company create such alternative ‘egos’? This is another story altogether.
