The deal was theirs to lose. An accounts payable software firm recently aimed to win a contract with a current customer, which had assembled an initial short list of contenders. However, when it came to the demonstration stage to show the newest product, the sales staff did not adequately prepare, stumbling over a clunky user interface, a weak roadmap for the next generation of products, and a mismatch with the buyer’s needs. The account chose another firm it had put on its “day one” list of vendors — the group that it had in mind before beginning the process.
What B2Bs Need to Know About Their Buyers
Common misconceptions might be costing you deals.
September 20, 2022
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Summary.
A survey by Bain and Google of 1,208 people at U.S. companies who are involved in buying software, cloud hosting, hardware, telecommunications, logistics, marketing, and industrial equipment revealed a set of misconceptions among sellers about how buyers behave. Sellers don’t realize that 90% of buyers choose a vendor that was on a short list at the beginning of the sales process; they focus too much on high-level decision-makers, underestimating the number of people inside the buying company who have influence; they rely too much on digital channels, neglecting physical selling; and they don’t realize how much the product demonstration factors into buyers’ decisions.