Recently, in some seminars that I’ve given, it’s become obvious to me that too many salespeople struggle with identifying “Buyers” vs. “Influencers.” That’s a huge problem. If you don’t know, or can’t tell, the buyer from the influencers, you’re going to do the wrong kind of selling to the wrong kind of people.

It’s always seemed to me that highly technical salespeople struggle with this the most. Being technically oriented, these salespeople will focus heavily on the intricate and minute aspects of their product – and in many cases, they’ll gain the interest of influencers but lose the sale at the buyer level. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s how to tell the difference and how to sell to both.

A Buyer is a person who can green light a purchase without asking anyone else. He or she is the person who either signs the checks, or whose purchase order goes unquestioned by the person who does. If the person you’re dealing with does not have unilateral authority to buy, you’re not dealing with the true Buyer. In any company, this type of authority begins in the corner office (CEO/President/Owner/etc.) and extends outward only as far as the person who is in the corner office wants it to. As a general rule, if you’re not dealing at least at the Vice President level, you’re probably not dealing with a true Buyer. If you are dealing with a Buyer, however, here are five quick guidelines to selling at that level:

1. Focus on the big picture: Buyers tend to be highly focused on the big picture level of their companies’ operations, not on the day to day minutia. Talk about profits, don’t talk about product specs.
2. Question, question, question: Despite what I said above, Buyers will have many motivators that you must discover.
3. Focus on Results: At the upper levels of company structures, Buyers will be focused on the result. Don’t tell them about the labor pains – show them the baby.
4. Be time efficient: You may not get the length of time with a true Buyer that you get with middle managers (influencers) – be prepared to make the most of your time with your most impactful questions and Achievement Statements.
5. Understand the hierarchy: Buyers will let you know who else in the company will touch your product; these will be Influencers. Buyers will also let you know who, of the Influencers, has their ear the most. Pay attention.

Influencers, on the other hand, are often the people who will deal with your product on a day-to-day basis. Influencers will be much more detail-focused and operationally oriented. They’ll be interested in the nuts and bolts. Here are five guidelines on selling to Influencers:

1. Know the details: Influencers typically will be hands-on with your product; they’ll want to know the details and the ins and outs of it.
2. Question about day to day issues: If you want to know how their current product/service works on a day to day basis, Influencers are the people to talk to. The Buyer will be handling the big picture; the Influencers the implementation.
3. Know the relationships: It’s important to understand the Influencer’s relationship to the Buyer; it’s also important to know the Influencer’s relationship with the current vendor.
4. Know how the Influencer is rewarded: The Buyers are most likely rewarded directly from the P&L; know what is meaningful and rewarding to the Influencer – then figure out how to drive those rewards with your product.
5. Ask “Day in the life” questions: Understand how the performance or non-performance affects the ability of the Influencer to do his/her job, and you’ll know how to get the Influencer on your side.

One other guideline is important here: Begin your selling efforts with the Buyer, not the Influencer. The reason is simple – once you have begun selling to the Buyer, he/she will introduce you to the Influencers. However, if you start your selling with the Influencers, there’s a good chance that you’ll never make it to the Buyer.

How to Sell to Purchasing Agents

When I started in sales, I learned that there were such things as Purchasing Agents, and I thought this created a perfect situation for me: I want to sell stuff, and they want to buy it. The trouble is that this isn’t exactly what happens with Purchasing Managers. Most (not all) Purchasing Managers see salespeople alternately as servants or as adversaries (or worse, both at once).

In most cases, whatever is bought by Purchasing Departments is spec’d by other departments within the company who are either using it or reselling it. Therefore, make an appointment with a Purchasing Manager to talk about how much better your product is than their current product, and it will fall on deaf ears. Why? Because the Purchasing Manager doesn’t really know their current product. Those specifications have been set by someone else in the building. If you want to understand what Purchasing Managers are really all about, read on.

What Purchasing Agents really value:

The Status Quo. Here’s the truth: Purchasing Managers are not normally agents of change within their organizations (and, of course, to sell something new, we need agents of change). The status quo is always safer for the Purchasing Manager because he’s not screwing anything up by making a decision to buy a new product.

Price savings. Purchasing agents love it when they have a product spec that sets up competition between multiple vendors. That means that he has leverage to beat the vendors up on price – which is never a winning situation for the salesperson. If you’re looking for a pure “bid” opportunity, this is it. But why look for that opportunity? Typically, PM’s are rewarded not on growth, but on cost savings and efficiencies. Other people in the building are rewarded for growth.

Gatekeeper power. Like it or not, Purchasing Managers function as intermediaries between you and the ultimate buying power. That makes them the gatekeeper, and my experience is that most PM’s employ this power to keep you at bay. For this reason, if you start your selling with the purchasing manager, you typically stay with the purchasing manager forever. You will never, or rarely, see the people who are really making the buying decisions.

Long selling cycles. Heavy reliance on PM’s tends to extend the selling cycle. First of all, because they are tough to see, it takes a long time to get on their calendar. Secondly, because they tend not to trust salespeople, it takes a longer time for them to buy into you and your products. Finally, they then have to advocate internally for the purchase of your stuff, which they tend not to be aggressive about. The selling cycle, if it does not get derailed completely, gets extended significantly.

In the interest of honesty, I must say that the above does not apply to all purchasing managers. There are some – not a lot – of proactive PM’s out there who will see value in your product or service and advocate its use within their client companies. But those PM’s are few and far between. In fact, I was fortunate enough to deal with one such PM early in my career, and much of what I’ve just told you came straight from him. He contributed greatly to my success by telling me that I shouldn’t be starting my sales process with him.

Dealing with Purchasing Managers:

The ideal situation is to be handed down to the purchasing department by someone who has seen you, investigated your stuff, and found it (and you) worthy. In that case, the purchasing department will be responsible for the details. When you are handed down to the Purchasing Department, you have some level of power. The key is to not abuse it.
Be nice, be respectful, and helpful. Don’t treat the PM like a lesser being – they hate that and will do whatever they can to place obstacles in your path. Treat them as if they have decision power, and you will be fine.

The ultimate selling tool: When you are selling to someone who makes decisions based on some sort of growth or comparative advantage, you can effectively sell change.