Buying Influences

Identifying the buying influences
Buying influences exist in complex procurements and most aerospace sales fall into the complex category. Buying influences are individuals or groups of individuals that have an influence on the decision of who is awarded the contract. As you will see, there are various types of buying influences and they all have different functions and roles in making the eventual decision. It is imperative to first understand how buying decisions are made, who the buying influences are, and to research and map every buying influence. Last month we discussed the idea of the Economic Buyer as the ultimate decision maker in any procurement. What we did not discuss was all of the other major buying influences that may either make a recommendation to the economic buyer or provide a strong influence on the Economic Buyer’s decision, thus having a major influence on the eventual outcome of the buying decision.

Simple buying decisions are made by a single person but decisions on more complex acquisitions are always made by more than one person. While there may be the ultimate decision maker, there will be numerous levels of influence from other individuals who will make judgments on the technical suitability of the design or service, assessments on the impact of your solution on the buying organization, or even political and strategic assessments of your solution if chosen. The four buying influences are as follows:

Economic Buyer - The economic buyer is the primary and ultimate decision maker. This is the person who can “write the check” for the acquisition and is typically someone high up in an organization. In fact, the more important the acquisition is to the organization, the higher the economic buyer will be placed. This buyer will be focused on the question, “what is the strategic impact of this decision on our organization?” In our experience, these buyers will either fall into the category of a “very involved buyer” or could be considered as more of a “rubber stamp” buyer. Occasionally in the latter category, the economic buyer may have one or two “pet” issues that they are concerned about and will delegate most of the decision to other buying influences.
Technical Buyer - The purpose of the technical buyer is to evaluate the technical suitability of your proposed solution to meet the buyer’s requirements. In this sense the technical buyer will compare and contrast your solution against the competitor’s. These buyers are often engineers and other technical or management specialists who will have widely varied expertise. The technical buyer may be a single individual or group of professionals. In a larger group, it is common to have highly specialized experts. In smaller groups, it is more common to see individuals with broad backgrounds and expertise and consequently more influence. Most often, the technical buyer is part of a larger group and there might be a hierarchy among this group with some of the buyers being “more equal” than others. These buyers cannot generally choose your solution but they certainly can prevent you from being chosen. In this sense, the technical buyer is the ultimate gate keeper. An interesting aspect of the technical buyer is that they often will think that they are the ultimate decision maker in the procurement and will tell you so. This is generally not done out of an inflated sense of self but rather that they themselves do not understand the buying influences.
End User Buyer - The end user buyer exists to evaluate the impact of your proposed solution on the buying organization. This role is fulfilled by individuals or groups who generally work in the operational side of the buying organization. They will be focused on the question, “how will this acquisition affect the operational aspects of this organization?” Because their judgments will typically be subjective rather than objective, these buyers are trickier to deal with. Like the technical buyers, the end user buyer will have varying degrees of influence on the outcome of the procurement. I have had personal experiences where the highest degree of influence on the choice came from the end users - such as the aircraft pilots or the spacecraft operations team. The lesson here is that you should never underestimate the power of this influence.
Inside Coach - The inside coach is someone that will provide you with insight into the various buying influences, their key issues and who might be your anti-sponsors. The inside coach does not exist outright but has to be developed. Ideally the inside coach is someone who has influence within the buying organization, who has some inherent self interest in seeing your solution implemented, and who has credibility with the buying organization. The inside coach is your tour guide for the procurement and is a great benefit to you if you can develop one.