If You Don’t Know How They Buy, You’re Just Guessing

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One of the most important elements that we need to understand, is how our customer buys.

I’m talking about understanding the literal process of how they are going to buy. Walk me through it.

How are they going to buy our solutions? Do you know it? I mean really know it? How about your team?

Was this newsletter forwarded to you?

I want to know. Step-by-step. Whether you’re a prime or a subcontractor, it’s an important step to understand the customer’s industry and budget, how the customer thinks, and how you can be a critical part of the customer’s journey.

This is not just understanding the customer’s budget and where they are in making a procurement decision, but also for you to make sure that you are aligned with where they are in their decision-making process.

Let’s dance.

The Challenge

The best salespeople don’t just know their product—they know their customer’s process.

Your sales strategy might be strong. Your value proposition could be clear. But if you don’t understand how your customer buys, you’re leaving deals to chance.

The Challenge Think about this:

• You don’t control their internal approvals.

• You don’t dictate their timelines.

• You don’t decide who influences the deal behind the scenes.

Now, this doesn’t have to be for just an upcoming procurement, it can be other areas that you might focus on, such as:

1. Legislation (how does it get done on the federal/state/local level)

2. Lobbying Efforts (how do you implement engagements at federal/state/local level)

3. Subcontracting Engagements (how do you build the right teams for your next project/how do you get on the right team)

4. Marketing Campaigns (how do you roll out a campaign specifically tailored to a niche)

5. Account Management (how to drive deeper relationships and task orders with your current customer)

6. The list goes on!

The Test

This is a challenge. It’s a memory test. I want to see how you do.

Break it down for me, step-by-step. Here are the rules.

1. Take out a blank piece of paper and a pen. And want you to write down each step of what happens on each step. Don’t skip a step. As Jack Reacher would say…” details matter.”

2. Put yourself into a real live scenario (choose a scenario that best fits your business) and ask yourself and your team to break down exactly what happens when you engage with the customer (or they are engaging with you).

3. Walk me through the exact steps of how they will buy/enact legislation/kick off a marketing campaign/send out subcontract requirements/etc.

What’s the Point of This?

The last thing I would ever want is to give you more work. I’m here to help you provide clarity, and help you avoid any unfortunate scenario where you’re in front of a customer and you should know how they operate, what stage of the procurement they’re in…and your mind is completely blank on what that even means.

Let’s avoid all deer in the headlights moments, shall we?

Never assume that everyone on your team knows how the customer buys. You want to make sure your team can walk the walk and talk the talk of the customer.

These quick little customer 101 lessons can help align you with the language of your customer.

Have some gaps? A quick study on where they are can help you alleviate those problems.

Educate yourself on the areas that you need to tone yourself up on.

Just like playing a sport, you work on the areas that you are weaker in so you can improve your overall performance.

So when you are back talking with the customer, you can understand where they are, you are knowledgeable on their side of the house, and the customer can feel more comfortable in you and your team as well.

Take the challenge and let me know what you think.

Have a great week and see you next week.

Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

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4. Cribworks Advisor Program - Want more than just resources? Reach out to me and see if our Advisor Program can help you grow your business.