No One Person Makes a B2B Decision
In B2C, one person decides to buy. In B2B, the average purchase involves five to eight stakeholders. Understanding who these people are and what each one cares about is the difference between winning and losing complex deals.
These stakeholders collectively form what is called the decision making unit, and each member has different priorities, concerns, and levels of influence.
The Key Roles
The Economic Buyer controls the budget and makes the final financial decision. They care about ROI, total cost of ownership, and business impact.
The User Buyer will actually use what you sell day to day. They care about ease of use, implementation effort, and how it affects their workload.
The Technical Buyer evaluates whether your solution meets technical requirements, integrates with existing systems, and meets security standards.
The Coach is your internal champion who wants you to win and provides inside information about the process and politics.
Mapping the Decision Making Unit
Early in any B2B deal, ask questions to identify all stakeholders. "Besides yourself, who else will be involved in this decision?" "Who manages the budget for this type of purchase?" "Does your IT team need to review this?"
Document each stakeholder, their role, their concerns, and your strategy for engaging them. This is where a structured deal tracking approach becomes essential.
Tailoring Your Message
The same pitch will not work for every stakeholder. Your CFO conversation should focus on financial impact and ROI. Your end user conversation should focus on usability and time savings. Your IT conversation should focus on security, integration, and support.
Prepare different materials and talking points for each stakeholder type.
The Importance of Your Coach
Identify and cultivate an internal coach early. This is someone who believes in your solution and will advocate for you in meetings you are not invited to. Keep them informed, arm them with the information they need to sell internally, and make them look good in the process.
Tracking Stakeholder Engagement
Use your CRM or a platform like Zepys to track which stakeholders you have engaged, what their concerns are, and where each one stands. Complex deals are won through systematic stakeholder management, not heroic individual pitches.