MANAGEMENT + SYSTEMS


goes on to make an even more revealing comment: ‘In my career as a buyer I have very rarely had people from


my own company ring me up to complain about decisions I made on price, but they will ring me up like a shot to complain about decisions I made on quality or service.’ So why is it that buyers so often play the price card in front of


sellers? Because it’s easy, because it puts the seller on the back foot, and because the seller often caves in under such pressure, and buyers will be happy enough with all of that. With most suppliers ‘north of the line’ buyers will be more


concerned about quality and service than simply getting the lowest price – and even ‘south of the line’ the route to the buyer’s objectives isn’t necessarily buying cheap. So why don’t they tell this to the sales people on the other side of the table? Well, would you, if you were a buyer? Buyers don’t lie and they don’t cheat (at least, not any more


than sales people), but they might not always tell you everything they are thinking, and they take their stand for well thought out reasons. Their well prepared positioning of suppliers often puts them in the driving seat when it comes to the negotiation.


So what’s a seller to do? A common response is to go around such an obstacle, to


seek the decision makers beyond the buyer. It can work, and it can also put the entire relationship at risk. If you want contacts beyond the buyer make sure you develop them with the buyer’s knowledge, with their permission, and even better, with their support. This can take time and patience of course, two commodities in short supply when a sales professional is focused on the short-term win. It may come as surprise to hear this, but buyers are focused


on the long term more than their tactical maneuvers might suggest. Beneath that bluff exterior that says: ‘we don’t need you today’ there often beats a nervous heart, and perhaps a realisation that they need you more than they wish you to know. To secure the buyer’s support in broadening contacts the supplier must demonstrate their relevance to the needs of the buyer and the business – the buyer needs to be sure that you will not be wasting their time. Begin by recognising your current status, and then, if


this is your ambition, demonstrate how you might become more significant. It is a journey that calls for care and subtly. Highly significant suppliers are also high risk suppliers – that’s how buyers think – ‘what if they let me down?’ As you move northwards in the matrix, expect the


buyer to take a greater interest in the mechanisms and processes of your company. Many salespeople regard this line of questioning as a nuisance – don’t! Recognise it for what it is – the buyer’s need to be confident in a supplier that is of increasing importance. Meeting their needs in this respect - providing information on your capabilities, developing services that enhance your product quality - these things will repay you handsomely when it comes to the price discussion. Sales professionals have long been trained to observe


behaviours indicating the personal motivations of their opposite numbers. Good stuff, but not enough on its own - the game has moved up a level. The key now is observing those behaviours that indicate the long-term business motivations of the buyer. Just as there are personality profiles, so there are


Peter Cheverton


profiles for typical buyer types based on the challenge of their business and the nature of their business ambitions. Knowledge of these profiles will help the seller to a crucial understanding: it’s not what the buyer thinks of your price that matters (you know that well enough!) but what they think of your ability to help them and their business prosper. If you have something to say about that, then it will be relatively easy to present the true nature of your value. If not, then your value proposition is all too likely to be ‘off beam’, so justifying the buyer in their stereotypical prejudice against all suppliers’ ‘so-called value propositions….’ Supplier Positioning


is just one aspect of the modern buyer’s thinking, a piece of the jigsaw, a sample of the revolution that has gone on within purchasing practice. Some of the changes have hardened attitudes, certainly reducing the seller’s ability to get by through bonhomie and repartee, and that is no bad thing. Sellers who close their eyes to these changes are seriously


limiting the prospects of their sales career, because the door is wide open for those that recognise the business nature of the buyer’s focus and choose to learn more. Such folk will find themselves amongst the most valued of people; valued by their customers, and valued all the more for that by their own sales management.


More can be found about the purchasing revolution, and what it means for sales professionals, by reading:


Understanding the Professional Buyer - ‘what every sales professional should know about how the modern buyer thinks and behaves’


Written by Peter Cheverton and Jan Paul van der Velde, and published by Kogan Page, www.koganpage.com (ISBN 9780749461232)


102 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 67 January 2011


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