| | By Lars Tewes
One of the
frustrating things about
business development in
the consulting world is
that our prospects /
clients buying cycles do
not often match our
desired selling cycle.
Why should it? Just
because we have spare
resources during a
particular time in the
year, does not mean the
clients are in the right
stage to buy. This
article will look at the
stages of a Buying Cycle
and remind us that we
need to be involved in
this cycle as early as
we can, by creating a
relationship and in
doing so adopting a
consultative sales
approach. The good news
is that as you build the
right relationships,
when applicable, you can
influence a prospect’s
buying cycle in a
valuable way for both
sides at earlier stages
of the cycle.
All too often we
still observe the
worrying sales approach
where the seller is
overly keen to talk and
present to a prospect
before they have both
fully understood the
prospects situation. By
understanding “The
Buying Cycle” all buyers
go through, we are able
to know when to listen,
talk, advise, influence,
close etc. There are 5
stages in a buying
cycle:
1 – Satisfaction
Stage. This is where,
even if there are better
solutions / options out
there, the buyer is
happy in their current
state. As the word
“satisfaction” suggests,
they are in a mindset
where they do not want
to buy more nor do they
see a reason to do so.
2 – Realisation
Stage. At some point,
after a buyer has been
happy with his
situation, something
happens to make him
realise that either
there is a better | |
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| | solution out there, or
he needs to make
improvements on his
existing approach. This
realisation shows itself
in many ways, for
example, in the current
fast moving
technological world
certain companies
experience this phase
more than others, having
to constantly change in
order to meet their
client’s needs. Equally,
legislation and
regulation may change
hence turning what was
the ideal situation into
one that has to become
compliant. Another
example is when a
problem occurs that you
were not expecting and
life maybe is not as
good as initially
thought.
3 – Assessment Stage.
Once a company knows
they have a need either
due to dissatisfaction
of their current
situation or real
motivation to take their
business to the next
level, the natural next
stage is assessing the
various options and
going to market to
understand what is
available. This, for
many of us is when we
receive the tender and
then we put all hands on
deck to write what we
believe is the perfect
proposal / bid (we now
know we may have entered
the cycle too late).
4 – Decision Stage.
In most situations there
can only be one winner
(although we are seeing
more and more joint
approaches to projects
as niche consultancies
team up to compete with
larger competition), and
a decision has to be
made. This is where, in
theory, the buyer makes
a decision based on the
level of quality,
timing, money available
etc.
5 – Delivery Stage.
Once the agreement has
been awarded, the
programme / project
starts and the real
proof now takes place | |
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| | build many trusting
relationships within
your industry sector
when people do not need
your services so that
when they do have a
reason to change (and
they will have to at
some point) you are the
person / firm of choice.
They will seek your
advice early on in the
process.
The good news is that
even though every
company follows a
similar buying cycle
they are at different
stages at different
times (even if being
forced through industry
legislation as some will
be able to change
immediately whilst
others will for various
reasons be the last ones
to adopt the new ways).
It is for this reason
that you need to become
comfortable in having
lots of professional
contacts in your sales
pipeline and one of the
most important habits to
form is to consistently
grow your professional
network even if a lot
hover near the top of
your sales funnel for a
while.
- Identify the right
people to know, by just
adding a few each month.
Most of us have a
mountain of business
cards that we are doing
nothing with. Linked-in
and Zing are making it
really easy to source
people who you can add
value to and good to
keep in contact with.
- Find ways to engage
them. I still think that
most consultants have so
much valuable knowledge
that prospects would
love to tap into it.
Calling people and
setting up short
meetings to share
industry trends and
current thinking, work
better than so many of
the methods created by
those who do not want to
communicate verbally
with others. We have
convinced ourselves that
these calls are the same
as someone cold calling | |
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| | us at 7:30pm offering us
something we already
have. They are not and a
lot of senior
professionals do
appreciate being
involved and wish their
business developers
would do the same. Do
not join the vast
majority of consultants
that still hide behind
layers of marketing and
kid themselves they do
not need to build their
own networks outside of
their closest contacts.
- Stay top of mind by
adding value. Do not
spam people but do add
value as and when you
can by inviting people
to relevant functions,
sending them relevant
information to help them
make decisions easier,
refer work their way
when you hear about it
to show you care.
The ultimate
objective is to build
relationships with
influencers and decision
makers so that you are
communicating during the
Satisfaction Stage of
The Buying Cycle, even
though there may be no
business win in the
short term. It is during
this stage that trust
can be built up,
knowledge that you are
in it for the long term
as well as allowing your
network to see and hear
the success stories that
you are having elsewhere
which prove your value.
To conclude, my
challenge to you is
this. Do not be put off
if you are building
great networks with
decision makers and
influencers and nothing
seems to be happening.
You only need a few good
clients to choose you
and this can often take
6,12,18 + months. If you
are starting out now to
build your network,
accept that it will take
time, accept that you
will need lots of
activity and seek to
understand which stage
buyers are in so that
you can approach them in
the right way. | |
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| | regarding the skill and
ability of the
successful consultancy
to provide what is
needed. This is still an
important part in any
buying cycle as new
relationships are being
formed. Often,
challenging discussions
are taking place as well
as cultural integration
between each party, both
of which mean
relationships can be
stretched.
The description above
is a cycle because once
the project is complete
the client should be
back in “Satisfaction
Stage” at least for a
period of time.
Inevitably, if going for
growth, it will at some
point either through
choice or circumstance
enter “Realisation
Stage” and it all starts
again.
So how does business
development fit with
this buying cycle? It
should fit 100%, however
all too often I meet
consultants whose entire
business development
pipeline really starts
at stage 3 “Assessment
Stage” via a tender or
RFP received. The
reality is that someone
else already had the
relationship two stages
earlier and probably
even wrote big parts of
the RFP to suit their
own companies’ value
points. This is
applicable to both
private and public
sector work even though
many in the public
sector would like to
think this is not the
case.
If you only have a
few relationships, you
can only be involved
with a few at the
Satisfaction Stage.
However, in order to
grow your business the
right way, you need to | |
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