Sales and Buyer Behaviour

Buyer Behavior, Decision Making Unit, Sales Force, and Sales Management

Introduction

A successful sale is very much dependent on understanding buyer behavior. It requires the salesperson to know what influences the buyer, w here in the buying cycle the customer is, what the decision making unit is, and the buyer process for making the purchase. In this lesson we shall focus on these aspects of understanding buyer behavior.

Personal Selling and the Buyer

Success in selling is achievable, but not by everybody. Equally, not everyone with natural gifts in selling can be successful in sales without understanding the sales phases and the organizational and buyer processes involved. A successful salesperson must certainly have a natural ability to establish rapport w with the customer, and impart a sense of well-being. Not only a sense of well-being today, but an expectation of greater well-being tomorrow. Sales success depends on gaining the confidence and esteem of the customer.

Connecting with the customer is thus a key requirement. By connecting w e mean, assessing the customer's mood, their thoughts, their views, their criteria for decision-making, as well as their expectations, hopes, desires and fears. So how is this achieved? Clearly a salesperson must have natural ability. For example, they must be able to put the customer at ease, facilitate sales meetings that are pleasant, engage in conversation that is cheerful and appropriate and, perhaps most importantly, empathize with the customer. These types of natural ability are vital, but on their own are insufficient. Especially in the B2B (business-to-business) sector, the salesperson must not only possess these natural abilities, but also understand buyer behavior and the customer's buying process.

These days, particularly in the B2B (Business to Business) and trade environment, sales are rarely made in one sales call/meeting. The customer is increasingly discerning, even in the purchase of low-value...