If you know the right people to talk to in your customer's organisation, you will have a better chance for success. The decision making process for purchases in most companies usually involves several people. The sales representative should know these people and win their support for his product lines or products.

Contact person
- deciders and intermediaries

The buyer - situation:
The purchase function bundles up the demand and takes care of its distribution onto suppliers. The saying: "The profit is made in the purchasing department!" is true for a good reason. Buyers live in the tension field between the price and quality needs of their company. The expenses of buyers go directly towards the manufacturing costs of their enterprise, and accordingly a buyer is constantly in a situation where he has to defend the prices which he accepted against internal criticism.

The buyer - how the sales representative should behave
To describe the situation as a friend/enemy type of relationship does not help to improve co-operation. The development is beneficial if sales representative and buyer regard each-other as partners. Mutual appreciation and respect is the basis of a good partnership. General prejudices about buyers like "they just want to buy at the lowest possible prices", are to be avoided, just like the usual prejudices about sales representative such as "they are only fast talkers with little know-how about anything". A sales representative with style respects the buyer and

- is sensibly aware of his partner's situation and behaves in a customer-oriented manner
- mentions the correct customer benefit arguments to suit the individual position of the buying company
- calculates the economic benefits of his offer for all to see
- gives the buyer enough security to support his decisions
- provides the buyer with the right media to make an in-plant presentation of his decision

With solid support the sales representative helps the buyer establish himself in a competent position within the company.

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