Definition
A buying committee is the group of people inside a company who take part in a purchase decision: the person with the problem, the people who will use the product, the signer, and reviewers in IT, finance, legal or procurement. In B2B, most purchases above a small amount involve several of them.
Why it matters when you sell B2B
Selling to one person and hoping they sell to the rest is the most common way B2B deals stall. Each member has a different question: does it work, is it safe, is it worth the money, can we sign it.
The signer is the economic buyer. Your buyer persona is usually one member, not the whole group.
A worked example
Say you sell a customer support platform to a software company with 500 staff. Six roles are in the deal.
One purchase, six rolesExample
- 01Head of support. Owns the problem: slow replies and lost customers.Champion
- 02Support agents. Will use it every day.Users
- 03IT security. Reviews data access and logins.Can block
- 04Finance. Checks the cost against the budget.Reviewer
- 05Chief operating officer. Approves the spend.Economic buyer
- 06Procurement. Runs the contract and supplier checks.Paperwork
You will not meet all six on the first call. But you should know they exist, and plan who you need to reach by when. The MEDDPICC framework is one way to keep track.
Our approach to research maps the people inside an account before the first email, so you know who to reach.
Common mistakes
- 1Selling to one person. If your only contact leaves or goes quiet, the deal goes with them. Reach at least two or three people.
- 2Meeting IT and legal too late. Reviewers who hear of you at the end raise questions that cost weeks.
- 3One pitch for everyone. Users want ease. Finance wants payback. Security wants control. Say different things to each.
- 4Assuming titles map to roles. The person with the senior title may not be the signer. Ask how decisions are made.
- 5Ignoring the users. A tool the users reject will not be renewed, even if the signer said yes.
Map a buying committee in one call
- Ask: who else will be involved in this decision?
- Ask: who has said no to a purchase like this before?
- List each role and a name for it.
- Mark who you have spoken to.
- Plan how to reach the next two.