The time when a salesperson could walk into the corner office and close the deal with a single decision-maker is long gone.
Today’s B2B transactions are more complex than ever: involving more perspectives, higher perceived risk, and a greater need for consensus across different functions.
Research from Gartner and Forrester shows that an average purchase today involves 7–13 people, and almost 90% of deals require agreement from at least two departments before the decision can be made.
Why is the Buying Group Growing?
1️⃣ Increased Risks. Decisions are scrutinized more intensely and require more sign-offs.
2️⃣ Cross-Functional Responsibility. For example, a new system impacts IT, Finance, and those who use the solution in their daily work, etc.
But the real bottleneck runs deeper than that.
In the book The Jolt Effect by McKenna and Dixon, over 2.5 million sales calls were analyzed. The result was striking: on average, 50% of qualified opportunities end without a purchase, despite the customer having evaluated the solution.
Why?
- In 44% of cases, the customer chooses to remain in status quo and not implement the change.
- In 56% of cases, the customer wants to implement the change but fails to reach a decision.
In other words: the buying group’s inability to agree internally stops more deals than any competitor ever has.
How to Get the Entire Group to Say YES
Successful salespeople adapt their message to each role. But that is not enough. You can win every individual and still lose the deal when the group convenes.
The key is to help the buying group find consensus. That is, a shared goal that everyone can stand behind.
For example: if the customer’s overarching goal is to become a market leader by becoming more data-driven, do not just talk about IT costs, ROI, or efficiency gains (effektiviseringsvinster).
👉 Talk about how you are jointly driving the digital transformation that will get them there.
When you take a step back and focus on goals that all stakeholders can relate to and agree upon, you become more than a vendor.
You become the catalyst who gets the customer to move from intention to action, and make a decision that allows them to achieve their goals.
💬 How do you personally create consensus within the customer’s buying group?
Here you can read more about how to increase your sales to your customers.
