In our always-on, globalised, economy it is vital to understand how buyers buy. Many ICT supply companies are inadvertently undoing a done deal. Larato’s research found that 40% of qualified buyers are choosing to do nothing, and 60% of these blamed their inaction on flaws in the sales experience.

The way customers buy has changed: buyers drive the sale and they are better informed than ever. If the seller can’t adapt, follow the buyer’s lead and add real value to the purchase through expert knowledge, the sale will stall. It’s time to shift from a sales person to a trusted advisor.

This #HelpMe guide explores Larato’s findings, affirming the need for suppliers to revitalise the way they interact with buyers.

Chapters in this guide:

1. Are your sales people unselling a sale?
   by Bryan Betts
2. Does your customer know more than your sales person?
   by Ian Hunter
3. It’s the customer who drives the deal, not the salesperson
   by Chris Wood
4. #HelpMe action plan
   by Dr. Lucy Green

Extract from “I want to understand how buyers buy” #HelpMe

In these web-enabled days, customers are better educated than ever. Learning what the options are in a particular field can be just a few minutes work with
a search engine. At the same time, people are busier than ever and buyers are being targeted by ever more suppliers, making sales pitches a nuisance to be avoided whenever possible. But customers still want and need to buy both products and services. So they network, asking their peers for their experiences and advice, and they search online for ideas and information.