1.3 The Decision Makers

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1.3 The Decision Makers

In industrial buying, there are often a number of people who exert some degree of influence on (a) whether the company buys or not, (b) what it buys and (c) from whom it buys.

Research has indicated that there are, on average, six people in the prospect company who influence the buying decision to some degree.

ON AVERAGE, THE SALESMAN TALKS TO NO MORE THAN TWO OF THEM!!!

We shall refer to these decision makers as the

DECISION MAKING UNIT ("DMU") The DMU that influences the purchase of, for example, capital equipment, might typically include:

Managing Director (or Board) Chief Engineer Production / Works Manager Financial Accountant Cost Accountant Buyer

It is not always easy to find out who constitutes the DMU, perhaps because of vested interests etc., but is worth trying (usually the Managing Director or shop floor workers are the most reliable sources of this information!!)

Looking back at the "typical" list above, we can be sure that each individual will be primarily interested in different aspects of the proposed purchase. Doesn't this have some implications for

(a) the way we mount our sales attack on the company?

(b) the type of information we give them?

(c)the selling methods we use for each DMU member?

Next page: 1.4 What are we Selling?