I am not a traditional \u201csalesperson,\u201d and this is not a guide on how to sell. This is a practical framework to understand how buying decisions actually get made\u2014particularly in complex, B2B environments.<\/p>\n
Most failed opportunities are not due to poor technology. They fail because the team does not understand how the customer actually buys<\/strong>.<\/p>\n At a high level, there are two operating models:<\/p>\n Selling organization:<\/strong><\/p>\n Marketing-driven organization:<\/strong><\/p>\n A marketing-driven approach is structurally advantaged. It begins with the customer<\/a>, not the technology.<\/p>\n This is difficult in technical organizations, where teams are often biased toward what they have already built.<\/p>\n Your \u201ccustomer\u201d is almost never a single person. It is a Decision-Making Unit (DMU: Decision-Making Unit)<\/strong>\u2014a group of individuals with different roles, incentives, and authority. Rick Page covers this well in his book Hope is Not a Strategy.<\/a><\/p>\n Ignoring this is one of the fastest ways to lose a deal.<\/p>\n Typical roles include:<\/p>\n Some roles may overlap. Others may sit outside the organization entirely.<\/p>\n Your job is to identify who plays each role in your specific target account<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If you are creating the problem through outbound sales, expect resistance. In subscription or repeat business models, users often determine renewal.<\/p>\n They understand the operational reality and will pressure-test your claims.<\/p>\n They do not need technical depth\u2014they need confidence in:<\/p>\n If you do not understand the payer, you do not understand the deal.<\/p>\n Examples:<\/p>\n Strong positive influence reduces friction and accelerates sales cycles. Examples:<\/p>\n You must anticipate and address their concerns early.<\/p>\n Most teams lose deals by:<\/p>\n The result is stalled deals, surprise objections, or silent rejection.<\/p>\n To close effectively, you must:<\/p>\n If you do not understand how the customer buys, you will not win\u2014regardless of how strong your product is.<\/p>\n With an understanding of how decisions are made, the next step is to develop and position a solution that aligns with both the problem and the structure of the buying organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am not a traditional \u201csalesperson,\u201d and this is not a guide on how to sell. This is a practical framework to understand how buying decisions actually get made\u2014particularly in complex, B2B environments. Most failed opportunities are not due to poor technology. They fail because … Continue readingSales Primer and the Decision Making Unit<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,19,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-marketing","category-sales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":548,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions\/548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSales vs. Marketing (Get This Right Early)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nDecision Making Unit<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nRole Breakdown (What Actually Matters)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Initiators<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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If the problem is already recognized internally, you have momentum.<\/p>\nUsers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Buyers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Deciders<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Payers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Influencers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Negative influence can quietly kill deals.<\/p>\nGatekeepers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nWhere Deals Actually Fail<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nPractical Implications<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nBottom Line<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nTransition<\/strong><\/h2>\n