Purchasing and Negotiation Training

"Shorten your sales cycle & increase your win rate through competitive excellence"

Editor’s note:Stu Schlackman is a frequent contributor to this blog.

In Part I of this four part series, Stu reveals the Obective reasons that customers buy.  In Part II, he addresses Subjective reasons for customer purchases, while  Part III and Part IV detail the personality styles that drive buying decisions. 

Let’s now explore more specific responses of the first two personality styles, Blues and Oranges, to the business reasons and decision criteria we have identified.

Blues make decisions from the heart; a decision must feel right.  Blues will lean towards the subjective impacts of a solution such as: how it will impact the people in the organization, how will it affect moral, will it improve the quality of the work environment.  Blues are slow to make decisions since they solicit the input of all the team members. Then they make a decision based on group consensus.  Making sure everyone agrees on the decision can take time, during which Blues do not like to be pressured.  Blues typically are risk averse and prefer the safe solution.  Trust is paramount with a Blue decision maker, but objective criteria also influence Blues.  A Blue will place emphasis on the quality of the solution and the service.  How will the solution impact productivity (specifically people productivity)?  How will the product/purchase impact ‘customer satisfaction’ (again focusing on their team of people)? To gain commitment from a Blue, ask how they feel about moving forward. 

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Oranges make decisions from the gut; a decision must seem advantageous.  When it comes to personal purchases, Oranges are impulse buyers.  When making business purchases, Oranges are bottom line driven.  The more important criteria for the Oranges are subjective and distinctly personal.  How will they look inside the organization if they go with the decision to buy?  Will they get a promotion or bonus?  Importantly, Oranges like to do business with a person they can rely on time and time again.  Ease of doing business, convenience, and great personal service during the sales cycle are important to the Orange.  Specific objective criteria (those associated with competition) also influence Orange decisions.  How will the solution position the company in regards to the competition?  Will the solution improve customer satisfaction and market share?  Will it improve the time to market for new products?  Oranges tend to be more impatient than the other personalities since they typically juggle many balls at one time. They are quick to make decisions, and when Oranges make a decision they are decisive.  When presenting to Oranges, describe the big picture, use bullets and provide the short summary.  Oranges need to know they are getting a great deal and they can have it now!

In the last of this series, we will examine the remaining two personalities, the Greens and the Golds, and wrap it all up.