Members of the Buying Committee

What is Business Development?

If you want to win any team sport...
You must know positions on the team.
BD is the ultimate team sport. Here are the positions.

YOUR TEAM

Called the Account Team, BD Team, or Go-To-Market Team

Here are the positions on your team...

1. Marketing
Leads all moves in the Awareness Phase of the customer journey

Primary Role: Capture your prospect’s attention
Primary Tactic: Advertising

2. Business Development
Leads all moves in the Activation Phase of the customer journey

Primary Role: Customer and community advocacy that creates corporate growth
Primary Tactic: Nurture Intent Cycles of Engagement (NICE)

3. Sales
Leads all moves in the Conversion Phase of the customer journey

Primary Role: Efficiently convert prospects into customers
Primary Tactic: Too many to count...
wait 5 minutes to find a new Top Selling Tactic on LinkedIn

YOUR PROSPECT'S TEAM

Called the Buying Committee or Decision-Making Unit (DMU).

How many players do they have on their team?

· A 2020 study showed 65% involve 4+ players
· A 2015 CEB study found average of 5.4 players

Are bigger buying teams better?

No...Studies show your PWIN decreases with 6+ players

Here are the typical positions on your prospect's team...

1. Initiator

Primary Role: first to identify the problem(s) or jobs to be done

2. Buyer

Primary Role: Manages buying process
Primary Tactics:
o  Gathering and documenting extrinsic and intrinsic requirements
o  Writing and releasing the RFI, RFP, or RFQ
o  Conducting independent cost estimates
o  Managing the proposal review process
o  Negotiating final price and proposed deliverables with bidders
o  Notifying all bidders of the final contract award determination and providing any proposal feedback

3. Decision Maker

Primary Role: Leads the Source Selection Board (SSB) and makes the final award determination
Primary Tactic: Consensus building

4. Influencer

Primary Role: Influence Decision Maker and other members of buying committee toward their preferred perspectives

5. Champion

Primary Role: Influencers that favor your team versus competitors

6. User

Primary Role: The end-users of your product. Help create the requirements and provide subject matter expertise to the buying committee.

Go Team!

Tony Gray, BDP
Author of the Business Development Body of Knowledge

Get your copy on Amazon today!