Customers Don’t Know What They Don’t Know!

In today’s world of Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, blogs, newsletters, news feeds, instant messaging and other sources, information is readily available to buyers whether they are B-C or B-B. With these resources buyers are much more sophisticated and knowledgeable before they engage with a sales professional. In fact, we live in a world where […]

Getting Inside the Black Box: Harsh Realities of Selling to a Committee

“Committees” are the mysterious black boxes of the sales universe. Sellers often assume they know what’s inside the box only to find that it was not at all what they suspected.  The word “committee” is often used to cloak a buying process in secrecy.  One individual’s “committee” is another’s team or group.  When executives are […]

Why Map the Customer’s Buying Process?

It seems like such a simple question, but if your company hasn’t defined and mapped the process your customers go through to make a purchase decision you are just guessing and guessing can cost you time, money and market share. According to CSO insights and other research organizations, many sales organizations haven’t taken the time […]

Partnering with Procurement: Five Steps to Building Buy-Sell Collaboration

All too often sellers view Procurement staff as the dark forces that obstruct the selling process.  They are the “black hats” that delay or stop sales. They are the commandoes of commoditization.  Some sellers subscribe to the belief that Procurement is obsessed with price discounts and turns a “blind eye” to obvious product value.  Consider […]

9 Reasons Why Cross-Selling Programs Fail

The Story of Cross-Selling Gone Wrong A couple of years ago, we were working with a company in the medical device industry that had acquired two smaller device manufacturers.  Nothing new or unusual about that; it is all part of on-going consolidation in the healthcare sector.  What was troublesome was their efforts at building an […]

12 Ways Hospital Buyer Behavior is Changing! Part 2

This is Part 2 of our blog that discusses 12 Ways that Hospital Buying Behavior is Changing. If you missed Part 1 Click here  and the link will take you to the article. In Part 1 we discussed the Power Shift to Sophisticated Buying, Analytics & Revenue Cycle Management, Demand Management, Further Supplier Consolidation, Self-Contracting […]

12 Ways Hospital Buyer Behavior is Changing! Part 1

Remember the good old days when you could walk into a hospital and go to a specific department without a vendor credential or signing in with procurement? When physician preference mattered? When department heads or service line directors could cut a PO or sign a lease agreement? When maverick buying prevailed? Well those days are […]