As a sales manager, one of your jobs is to make sure your salespeople are equipped to succeed when selling to purchasing departments and/or buyers.
These selling situations can be much different than other situations, because professional buyers are incredibly adept at working deals to their advantage.
I have an entire page on my website with articles about Working with Purchasing Departments.
Here are some suggestions on how to use that page:
- Rotate having a different salesperson each week review one of the articles and share his/her personal insights about it with the team.
- Have all the salespeople read all of the articles. Then in an upcoming team meeting, make a list of the tips/insights from salespeople who have been successful in selling to purchasing departments or working with buyers.
- Challenge each salesperson to try a new tip they have learned, and then come back to the group at the next meeting and share how it went.
It is possible to succeed when selling to purchasing departments, but your team has to be prepared.
The more preparation and insight on how purchasing departments and buyers work, the more likely it is you will see increased profits from these relationships.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
