How Today’s Deals Get Done
Selling in the B2B arena has always been complex. But today that complexity is increasing as organizations flatten and push responsibility, authority, and accountability further down into the ranks.
“There is a cultural shift in sales cycles and how deals are getting done,” Spoke Software CEO Frank Vaculin told me in a conversation we had earlier this week on sales trends. “There are significant changes in the decision processes in companies today.”
According to Vaculin, today sales professionals need to talk to people at all levels in an organization. That means people “in the ranks,” not just executives. As much as there is team selling, there is also team buying.
You may say, so what’s new? Complex sales have often included pitches to the CEO, CFO, the purchasing manager, etc. The difference today is that staff all the way down to the front-line user level may have significant influencer roles in even a significantly large purchase. “There’s more sense of ownership throughout organizations today,” Vaculin said. “So salespeople have to reach out to all of these people.”
Vaculin noted that people aren’t “handed” decisions the way they were in the past. Today there are far more project teams, committees, and power uses participating in the purchasing process and influencing the buying decision.
Is your organization prepared to sell at every level within your customers’ enterprises?
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